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Date: 8/23/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley-Easthampton Veterans Service District is hosting a veteran services outreach event on Aug. 31 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Big Y in South Hadley, located at 44 Willimansett St.
The outreach event is a partnership between the South Hadley-Easthampton Veterans Services District and the Department of Veterans Affairs outreach team in Leeds. They will be joined by members of the Springfield Vet Center and multiple local veteran service organizations to deliver services directly to local veterans within their community.
A newly wrapped mobile veteran facility equipped with full Internet access will be on-site along with veteran center counselors, service representatives and local organizations such as the Western Mass. Service Officer Association, who will be providing information about Chapter 115 state benefits. Other resources that will be available are VA health care, federal benefits, mental health, area groups and activities and events for all veterans and their family members.
Currently, there are approximately 30 mobile vet units across the United States; Michael Slater, director of Veterans Services for the South Hadley-Easthampton District, said the purpose of the event is to get vets and their surviving family members foot in the door to explore these programs, “So if someone comes in and they want to look at doing a VA claim or look at getting into the VA health care, the mobile vet center will allow the VA and the vet center to connect to their side of the program with different online services, so they can do health care enrollment, pull records and really address whatever need is brought up at that moment.”
He also mentioned that veterans can look forward to meeting organizations that offer activities and events like the all-veterans dragon boat team of Holyoke and the Day of Hope golf program, which is an arm of the PGA nonprofit program that “introduces golf to veterans to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.”
Slater said they are hoping to reach as many people as possible within the short period that they’ll be at the Big Y, and they are planning to repeat the event in Easthampton in the next couple of months.