The good Cornellians can do: Kristen Eaton ’04
Kristen Eaton '04 first learned about Veterans Town Halls (VTH) while reading Tribe, one of author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger’s books. (Others include The Perfect Storm, War, and In My Time of Dying). The town halls were founded by Junger to create opportunities for veterans to share their stories. These events bring people together face-to-face, to build greater understanding and empathy in the community for the experience of vets.
Kristen attended her first VTH in Dover, New Hampshire in 2016. Like many audience members, she had no prior personal experience with the military. Kristen was moved by the candor of the speakers as they talked openly about difficult topics. She saw an opportunity to put her event planning skills to good use as a volunteer organizer for VTH.
Over the next few years, Kristen helped introduce VTH events to communities in Vermont. She reached out to veterans who wanted to share their stories, and local organizations reached out to her to help them host successful events. In 2022, Vets Town Halls became a non-profit. VTH works to share best practices, sample outreach materials, suggested host remarks, and the like with hosts across the country.
Kristen, who is now deputy director of VTH, is still deeply moved by the conversations that take place at these events.
“At an event last November, a Vietnam veteran shared a story that he’d never shared with anyone before. That’s a long time to hold on to a story,” she says. “I was glad he had a chance to share it with a community that was clearly there for him, and listening openly and genuinely.”
Speakers and attendees tell her that the town halls have saved lives and created space for veterans and their families to talk about the hard stuff.
Kristen and her team hope to bring Vets Town Halls to many more communities. She invites interested people to reach out to her directly.
“If you’d like to bring a Vets Town Hall to your community or learn more, please reach out to me at kristen@vetstownhall.org.”
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