This year, Cape Cod 5 is celebrating its 10‐year anniversary of supporting Heroes In Transition’s (HIT) work by stepping up as a Community Partner.
“We’re excited to continue our support of Heroes. It’s something we feel good about as we realize there’s a definite need to assist veterans and military families within our community,” said Cape Cod 5 Co‐President Matt Burke.
At Cape Cod 5, community support and engagement is embedded in everything they do. It’s what makes the bank so special. “It’s a big reason a lot of us are at the bank,” Burke said. “How we can make an impact is part of being a responsible business, whether it’s the banking products or services we offer, our leadership and volunteerism efforts, or the philanthropic support to all the organizations that are doing such good work within our community.”
Cape Cod 5 has five main areas of impact that it focuses its efforts on, which includes helping to address the needs of service members, veterans, and military families. “Heroes In Transition has been doing some great work in this area over the years,” he said. “Being a veteran, it’s an organization I think really highly of.”
Having served eight years in the Army National Guard, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2004, Burke understands the difficulties that service members can have in making the transition to civilian life.
“When you’re in the military you have a support structure, but when you transition back to civilian life, especially if you’ve served a significant period of time, you lose that,” he said. “It can be difficult coming back to make that transition. For me, I feel very honored to have served my country and I’m lucky and fortunate to be where I’m at today. But you look at the thousands of veterans committing suicide every year, it comes back to making that transition. …PTSD is a reality and veterans deal with that stress. They feel overwhelmed and alone and abandoned and sometimes they don’t think there’s anywhere they can turn to for help.”
On Cape Cod and the Islands, veterans and their loved ones have somewhere to turn thanks to Heroes In Transition.
Burke was first introduced to HIT at its 2nd Annual Fall Gala. It was there that he became impressed with the organization’s history along with the critical work it was doing. “Being a veteran and hearing about the impact Heroes was having – at that point they were still a young organization compared to a lot of other nonprofits – but to see a packed house, the generosity of people there, it was overwhelming and amazing,” he said.
He highlighted HIT’s creativity when it comes to assisting this population. From its equine therapy program to its fishing charters to providing service dogs to veterans to its spring and fall couples retreats to its monthly outings for service members, veterans, military spouses, military couples, and military families, he said, there is a common theme to all of them. “They are bringing people together and providing a sense of familial support,” he said. “Community is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Heroes In Transition.
“Everything they’re doing is making a difference,” he continued. “I wish there were more organizations like Heroes In Transition. It was kind of built from scratch and started from something horrible with Eric Jones making the ultimate sacrifice. Cyndy and Ken chose to direct their energy and passion to something good that is having a positive impact on so many lives.”
To learn more about becoming a Community Partner and supporting Heroes In Transition’s work year‐ round, contact Director of Development Jill Blanchard at marketing@heroesintransition.org.
