Veterans Voices Writing Project

Veterans’ issues are trending. How do we heal those who have experienced war – heart, mind, and body? How do we solve the problem of veteran suicide? How do we keep veterans from being homeless on the streets? How can we, in some small way, can we help?

A group of Kansas City AWC members have been volunteering their time and talents for many years to a project that is as timely now as it was when it started in 1946.

The Veterans Voices Writing Project (VVWP) is a nonprofit organization that provides therapeutic writing programs to our military veterans. Veterans write about personal experiences and innermost thoughts to help manage the effects of PTSD and to reduce the risk of suicide. They also write for creative expression.

How it Began

Originally called Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project, the organization was established in 1946 by Elizabeth Fontaine with the support of the Chicago North Shore chapter of Theta Sigma Phi (now The Association for Women in Communications). Writing as therapy was an untried idea, but Elizabeth and the other volunteers quickly gained the confidence of the Veterans Administration. Soon hospitalized veterans, with the help of writing aides, were expressing their feelings in stories and poems and competing for prizes at the local level.

Kansas City Members Provide a National Outlet

In 1952, Sally Keach and Gladys Feld Helzberg, with assistance from the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Theta Sigma Phi, established Veterans Voices, a magazine that would publish the writings of veterans for everyone to enjoy. This national outlet was a great incentive for writers.

From the Veterans Voices website: “The first issue of Veterans’ Voices was published in 1952. It was mimeographed, hand-stapled and hand-addressed. It boasted 18 pages: 12 of prose and six of poetry. The manuscripts had been sent to Chicago for judging. From there, the winning manuscripts were forwarded to Kansas City for publication. Original magazine staffers, in addition to Sally Keach and Gladys Helzberg, included Betty Butler, Lucille Doores, Kay Dyer, Helen Huyck, Dorothy Martin, Josephine May, Charlotte McKenzie, Mary Jane Pierronet, Doris Quinn, and Mary Marcene Thomson.

For a number of years, the organization operated out of three cities: HVWP, the parent organization, was headquartered in Chicago; members of the New York Committee were largely responsible for fundraising, and the magazine was published in Kansas City. Then in 1972, the operations were consolidated with HVWP’s move to Kansas City. Sally Keach was elected president of HVWP. Sally-Sue Hughes was named publisher of Veterans’ Voices and Margaret Clark became editor of the magazine two years later in 1974.”

Veterans’ Voices Today

The magazine is still printed and mailed to subscribers as well as being available online. Complimentary copies of Veterans’ Voices are provided to VA Medical Centers and to writing aides and other volunteers who assist veterans with writing. Writers receive a complimentary copy of the magazine when their work appears in print. Subscription proceeds, donations, and sponsorships help cover the cost of production.

The name was changed to Veterans’ Voices Writing Project in 2015. Today, as a respected component of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ medical center recreation and rehabilitation programs, the project and its magazine regularly impact the lives of veterans as they share personal experiences and innermost thoughts. In keeping with the times, online submissions are now accepted.

“I have been somewhat involved with VVWP since the late 90s. However, I became more involved in 2012 after I retired,” said Sheryl Liddle, AWC National Board Chair from 2006 – 2009. “I helped produce a video on VVWP and then became a board member. I am now the president of the board.”

“I have always been interested in being a help to our veterans and VVWP has given me the opportunity to be part of a project that encourages veterans to work through traumatic issues through writing,” Liddle continued. “It is also a way to honor my father, who was a WWII and Korean veteran.”

For the past 14 years, Priscilla Chansky has been the administrative director of Veterans’ Voices Writing Project and its sole employee.

“AWC members who formerly belonged to the AWC Greater Kansas City Chapter are still the driving forces behind our nonprofit,” said Chansky. “Margaret Clark is editor-in-chief and has been for 35 years. Tina Hacker is poetry editor and has been for over 30 years.”

Veterans’ Voices is what we think is trending now. For over 70 years, women in communications have volunteered their time and talents to enrich the lives of our veterans of foreign wars and contributed to solving some of the problems they face upon returning to civilian life.