FARMINGTON – While soldiers may have returned from battle, the emotional war waging inside their minds is likely to never end.

Knowing that, a group of Farmington-area community members has set up a safe space where returning soldiers, troops families, veterans and friends can come together and talk about their experiences, and how they can move on from them. The GI Coffeehouse opened Friday night.

On the second and fourth Friday of every month, those who have been impacted directly by military service, whether they’ve fired an M-16 or sent a care package full of cookies and phone cards overseas, may gather at the coffeehouse, which is being run out of Farmington’s Old South Church and staffed by 21 volunteers.

Doug Rawlings, a founding member of the nationwide Veterans for Peace organization who helped start the new safe space, says the GI Coffeehouse isn’t about politics or positions. It’s about listening and caring.

Military counselors may have an agenda, and parents expect their children to come back from war the same as when they left and have a hard time understanding that it’s just not possible, said Rawlings.

So, the 21 trained facilitators provide nonjudgmental, nonpolitical and nondirectional listening.

“We want to welcome the GIs back in a way that reflects the support for them from the community,” said volunteer Eileen Kreutz.

“The experience that is going to come out of this is severe,” she said of the current conflict in Iraq. “We know they are going to need help and we want to begin to have a network set up for them to make contact with each other and the resources they need.”

Once the coffeehouse gets going, the volunteers will fade back toward the sidelines, just putting out the muffins and pouring the coffee as those who have come to talk about the weight of war find, and help, each other.

Last Friday, the coffeehouse opened for the first time, ushered in by calming folk music played by Ruth Hill of Jay, lots of homebaked goodies and a crowd of upward of 70 people.

Rawlings said the night went better than expected, and most people stuck around until 10 p.m. to share.

“It was an evening of good community,” he noted.

By Monday, volunteer Craigen Healy, had already heard a testament to the power of the community therapy from the mother of a solider stationed in the Middle East who admitted that coming together to talk with other mothers who were in the same spot was just what she needed.

Healy said volunteering for the coffeehouse and welcoming home the troops with wide arms and an open ear is her own way of being patriotic.

She hopes when returning troops see the community spirit surrounding the coffeehouse project, they’ll know they are respected.

“The biggest thing we have to give them is a warm, community welcome,” Healy said. “We want to give them the best.”

The next G.I. Coffeehouse will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, March 12, at the Old South Church in Farmington. Free childcare is provided.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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