CHRIS CARLISLE BELIEVES IN THE MAGIC OF A MEAL. He’s felt it. The founder of Building Bridges, an initiative to foster veterans’ healing through shared monthly lunches, remembers the first not-so-successful gathering in Northampton at the old World War II club. “One veteran came,” he says. “You could hear a pin drop.” But a seed was planted, and three had lunch the next week.

By the time the pandemic hit, 60 to 70 veterans per week were showing up for each other. Then the club shuttered, and Carlisle had to pivot. Rather than collapsing the non-profit, he expanded its reach. Building Bridges teamed up with the Easthampton Coalition for Veteran Wellness, which found a new location for Northampton vets and their neighbors at the Easthampton Congregational Church. Meanwhile, the initiative grew to 17 sites in four states – Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island – and now about 1,300 veterans attend lunches each month.

“We’re about to break 100,000 meals served, so we’re competing with McDonald’s, so that’s good,” says Carlisle wryly. But he and his colleagues in the coalition are serious about why Building Bridges is essential to veterans, who are at risk of mental health challenges as well as being othered. “We’re not looking for the demand,” says Carlisle. “The demand is there – it is everywhere given the specter of PTSD, depression and suicide risk and also the genuine need for them to be welcomed back into the community.”

“When you walk into our lunch you’re going to get greeted about 15 times before you get to your seat,” says Thea Schlieben, a community engagement and partnerships coordinator for the VA Central Western Massachusetts who also serves on the coalition. She notes that volunteers-welcoming-vets and peers-welcoming-peers both make enduring impressions.

According to the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, suicide was the 13th-leading cause of death for veterans in 2021, and the second-leading cause of death among veterans under 45. The 2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study found that more than 50 percent of veterans experienced loneliness – a condition that has itself been called an epidemic by the surgeon general.

Emma Reilly, a mental health and wellness coordinator for the Easthampton Police Department who serves on the coalition, notes that suicide prevention in action is all about connection. “You’ll see vets sitting by themselves and others coming and choosing to sit at the same table, or engaging in conversations,” she says.

“It’s important for us to be in spaces where we feel without a doubt or question that we belong,” adds Schlieben.

“Belonging” is the word that comes to mind when Heather Rudolph thinks of the initiative, which she has helped run in Easthampton for served in Iraq, Rudolph says that attending the lunches has given her a sense of purpose. (It was that same search for meaning that led her to join the Army.)

“Finding the coalition and getting involved has been a game-changer for me,” says Rudolph. “This was the missing piece of the therapy puzzle I have been looking for all these years, and many veterans I have spoken to feel the same. Having the accountability to and consistency of a monthly luncheon is part of my self-care plan now. As a result, I have become more grounded in my day-to-day life, which in turn makes me a more present and patient parent to my kids; spouse to my amazing, supportive wife; and is beginning to provide me with clarity on the next steps in my career – which will obviously involve working with veterans.”