White River Junction — Two new co-directors are taking the helm at Silent Warriors, the Upper Valley organization that provides support and essential items for the homeless.

Karen Zook, of Lebanon, and Mike Chamness, of White River Junction, will be taking over the organization that Bev McKinley founded in 2013. McKinley, of Enfield, is preparing to move to Florida.

“I reached out to two wonderful people who are just going to do leaps and bounds for the organization,” McKinley said.

Zook is one of the owners of Scratch, a craft store in Lebanon, and also serves as a city councilor.

Chamness, who works as a grant writer at Dartmouth College, has extensive experience working with homeless populations in Venice, Calif.

When he moved to the Upper Valley about 18 months ago he became involved as a donor to Silent Warriors. When McKinley approached him about helping to lead the organization he was excited.

“Homelessness touches a lot of people in a lot of different ways,” he said.

Chamness said that he, Zook and McKinley have been working together to make sure everyone is on the same page to prepare for the transition.

“We’re talking about the role that the organization has played and what role it could play in the community,” he said.

In California, Chamness was involved with a variety of organizations that connected the homeless population with other community members through meals, community clean-ups, legal counseling and other efforts.

“That re-humanized the relationship and broke down barriers between the community and the homeless,” he said.

He hopes to do the same in the Upper Valley, strengthening the services that Silent Warriors already provides and developing new ways of supporting the homeless. Chamness said that it’s important to realize that the homeless aren’t just people living on the streets or in the woods, but also those who are staying in the cars or couch surfing because they cannot access affordable housing.

“That definitely that needs to be reiterated so people understand it’s a much more pervasive issue,” he said.

Chamness said that in addition to providing essential hygiene and food items to the homeless, he would also like to see Silent Warriors focus on long-term solutions to homelessness. This could include having a storage and shower facility that will allow people to safely prepare for interviews with social services or job opportunities.

“The goal is to provide wrap around services and housing to get people off the streets and out of forest and into the resources they need,” he said.

Chamness hopes to see more youth and families involved with Silent Warriors so that the next generation understand the root causes of homelessness and how social supports can help address them. People who would like to volunteer with the organization can get in touch via Facebook by searching @SilentWarriorsNHVT or visiting www.silentwarriorsnhvt.org.

As McKinley prepares for her move, she is confident that she is leaving Silent Warriors in good hands and that the local homeless population will continue to receive essential supports.

“This was just a little mustard seed that I started almost seven years ago,” she said. “The Upper Valley believed in this cause from the get-go, and I know they’re going to continue to support it.”