HIBBING, MN (Northland's NewsCenter)---Last week President Obama announced the withdrawal of all U.S. troops currently stationed in Iraq, saying they would be home by years end.
Many of those soldiers are from the Northland.
There are about 300 National Guard Soldiers between Grand Rapids and Virginia.
Iron Range Community members are working together and learning new ways to help their families.
A faith based workshop on ministering to veterans, soldiers and their families was hosted by the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Hibbing-Chisholm chapter, Thursday.
Discussion topics ranged from ways to access employment support services and faith based resources to what to expect when a service member returns home.
Community members learned new ways to network and ways to proactively support families while a soldier is deployed.
"The silent needs that are out there and just the fact that we are being made more aware of what the needs are for the families as well as what we could do as communities of faith," Brenda Tibbetts, an Associate in Ministry said. "Networking, the information we received today as far as what services are available is really valuable."
"It helps the soldier keep his focus on his mission and it helps the family retain their resilience back here knowing that they got people that will help take care of them, should something happen," Chaplain Vincent Hokkanen of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the Minnesota National Guard said.
The next clergy Yellow Ribbon Workshop is scheduled for Nov. 3 at the Holy Catholic Church in Duluth.
Posted to the web: Jennifer Walch
jwalch@northlandsnewscenter.com
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