Welcome to Pine Winds Connections! We are really happy that you came by to visit. If this is your first time, you should know that Pine Winds Connection is a non-profit corporation that is dedicated to promoting positive, healthy connections between individuals, between groups of people, and between and within communities. Our goal is a more beautiful, united planet.

Initially, Pine Winds Connections took over some activities that were being done by Idyll Arbor, Inc. These included the donation of books on dental care (Dental First Aid for Families) to families in the military and families receiving assistance at food banks in King County, Washington. Idyll Arbor had also donated books discussing PTSD and TBI (Faces of Combat, PTSD and TBI) to all the Vet Centers in the United States as well as to every state VFW headquarters in the country and overseas. Today, Pine Winds Connections will donate this same book to Veteran’s Courts throughout the US and to veterans at the four or so veteran’s events held in Western Washington each year. As we continue to grow, we hope to expand our presence at veteran events to include the rest of the country.

To provide additional information for veterans, active military, and their families, Lorena Barnes blogs about veteran’s issues and maintains an extensive list of resources on FacesofCombat.us and on the Faces of Combat Facebook page.

For 2015, the activities listed above will be the primary activities of Pine Winds Connections.

Beyond the current activities for veterans and military, Pine Winds Connections intends to provide further information about healing from military service, working with Eric Newhouse, author of Faces of Combat, to write and distribute an updated book called Faces of Healing. The information will also be presented at seminars and retreats that will be free for veterans, current military personnel, and their families. Effective forms of healing will be demonstrated.

Funding for these activities will come from individual donations, donations from groups concerned with veteran’s issues, and the revenue earned from holding writing retreats. These retreats, unlike the ones discussed above, will be  relatively expensive as they are intended to generate funds for our other programs. Professional writers and healers will be invited to donate their time for the program sessions.

Community Connections
Pine Winds Connections is also concerned about the disconnection between groups in the United States. We believe that there are steps we can take to reduce the divides that currently exist. The intention is to provide educational materials, programs, and training to individuals, organizations, and communities that will assist them in dealing with crises, disasters, the disintegration of the neighborhood, lack of empathy, and cross-cultural issues.