Women Veterans ROCK! Names Cathie Lechareas 2015 Honoree of The Year

Women Veterans ROCK! Names Cathie Lechareas as
The 2015 Woman Veteran Honoree of the Year

Washington, D.C. (October 20, 2014) – The Women Veterans ROCK! Advocacy Campaign for Women Veterans and Military Families announced today that Cathie Lechareas has been named Women Veterans ROCK!’s 2015 Women Veteran Honoree of The Year.

On Veterans Day, November 11, 2014, Lechareas will be honored by the women veterans community as the “2015 Woman Veteran Honoree of The Year” during the Women Veterans ROCK! Rally & Veterans Day Celebration at The Women Veterans National Memorial located at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Women Veterans ROCK! Rally event is “Putting a Female Face on Veterans Day Celebrations” by honoring women veterans who have served and passed on, as well as celebrating women veterans who have served and live on!

This year, Women Veterans ROCK! salutes U.S. Navy veteran Cathie Lechareas for six years of courageous military service as a Navy Cryptologist and commends her for her ongoing, dedicated, post-military service to America’s veteran community.

Lechareas is a driving force and a leading visionary within the military community. She is the co-founder and executive director of C*A*M*M*O, the Center for American Military Music Opportunities. C*A*M*M*O is a dynamic nonprofit organization that focuses on service-related conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Through the systematic use of music C*A*M*M*O concentrates on restoring, maintaining, and improving the physical, emotional, psychological, and neurologic functioning of active-duty service members and veterans. C*A*M*M*O is also dedicated to advancing veterans’ artistic and technical abilities of our veterans and service members, providing a hub where they can go to find information about opportunities in the field of the Arts. C*A*M*M*O is the creator and sponsor of such groups as 4TROOPS, the Voices of Services, and The American Military Spouses Choir.

In addition to the current operations in the Northern Virginia and Washington DC metro area, plans for acquiring or building physical centers in Tennessee, California, New York, Texas and other locations throughout the U.S. are underway. Ideally, each of these locations will have an educational component in partnership with a local university, a residence hall or housing arrangements, rehearsal space, studios, offices, and a music therapy wing.

“Cathie Lechareas is a national example of how America’s military women continue to serve their country in their post-military -civilian lives. She’s also a national treasure for her innovative work as a Woman Veteran Business Owner dedicated to public service for America’s war heroes,” says Deborah Harmon-Pugh, Campaign Chair of Women Veterans ROCK!

Admission to the Women Veterans ROCK! Rally & Veterans Day Celebration is free and open to the community, but advanced registration is required. Women Veterans and Military Families interested in registering for the Women Veterans ROCK! Rally & Veterans Day Celebration can visit www.WomenVetsRock2014rally.eventbrite.com for registration and more information.

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CONTACT INFORMATION
Women Veterans Public Affairs
Info@womenvetsrock.org
www.womenvetsrock.org

About “Women Veterans ROCK!”

“Women Veterans ROCK!” is a Coalition of Women Veteran Organizations and Women Advocacy Organizations Supporting Women Veterans & Military Families. We are supporting them in the areas of: Housing; Employment; Education; Financial Stability; Health & Wellness. We achieve our mission through four successful signature programs including the: Veterans Day Rally; Women Veterans Summer Retreat; Women Veterans Civic Leadership Institute; and our “Get To Know Us” Series of Outreach Programs and Activities. Women Veterans ROCK! is sponsored by The Healthy Caregiver Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization.

About Cathie Lechareas

Co-Founder & Executive Director of
The Center for American Military Music Opportunities (C*A*M*M*O)

Join us as we salute Cathie Lechareas as the 2015 Woman Veteran Honoree of The Year. Cathie has a rich history of military service to America and she continues to serve as a successful and notable woman business leader in throughout the Veteran Community.  She is a well known figure in veterans circles around Washington, D.C. The native of upstate New York served six years in the U.S. Navy as a Cryptologist, serving primarily at the U.S. Pentagon.

Cathie has worked with homeless veteran organizations and coordinated monthly forums on veterans legislation, helping to raise funds and awareness about homeless veterans. She has also worked with the Southeast Veterans Service Center in Washington, D.C., which included service to their center for homeless women veterans, which opened in February 2008.

She has served on the advisory board of: Rolling Thunder, Washington, DC; Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation; and Vietnam Gulf War Coalition. She has worked as a legislative assistant for the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, Inc., and has been a positive force in the pursuit of benefits and opportunities for American veterans for many years.

During her work with veterans, Cathie discovered the power of music and music therapy and immediately recognized its healing and rehabilitative properties. When she came into contact with music industry professionals engaged in finding opportunities for veterans and military members, she realized how beneficial it would be to have military musicians communicating with their peers.

From this interchange, C*A*M*M*O, The Center for American Military Music Opportunities, was born. Since its inception, a key vision has been to create entertainment-based programming and a music therapy center for veterans that provides military and veteran artists, musicians and technicians a place to develop, thrive, find opportunities and give back.

C*A*M*M*O currently has programs operating in the Washington, DC Metro area; Nashville, TN; San Antonio, TX; and Los Angeles, CA. C*A*M*M*O is working on funding for centers which would consist of studios, classrooms, project workspace, performance spaces and communal creative areas as well as a separate residence for those artists engaged with the organization on a long-term or short-term basis. C*A*M*M*O artists have performed at the home of the U.S. Vice President; on The Queen Latifah Show; America’s Got Talent; at the American Legion National Convention; plus many other nationwide events.

C*A*M*M*O has also hosted workshop for Music Therapy in Nashville, TN; Ft. Benning, GA; Chattanooga, TN; with the “Army Strong Bonds” Program; and at the Omega Retreat for Women Vets in New York. Learn more about Cathie Lechareas and C*A*M*M*O Music visit: www.cammomusic.org