Veterans Service Office goes to the vets

FINDLAY — The Hancock County Veterans Service staff is hitting the road to meet veterans and answer their questions The first stop will be from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at the American Legion, 120 W. Front St. It's something new for the veteran's office, according to office manager Toby Brown. "The idea behind it is for us to go where the veterans are because sometimes veterans, for whatever reason, they don't want to come into our office," he said. "They don't think that they need our services when a lot of times maybe they don't even know what all of our services are." If they can connect with just one veteran who has never been to the office before, it's worth it, said Brown. "We did a little bit of something like this last year when we went to a couple local businesses and just did a little social thing. But here in the office we were talking and one of the things I came up with was hey, why don't we do this but go to where the veterans are specifically," he said. "You don't know what you don't know. And our county veteran service officers go through the training through the state and through national. So we have a lot of training and know the things that typically you just don't know," he said. Unfortunately some veterans will wait to seek help, said Brown. "Sometimes they're very prideful and they're like, Oh, I don't need the help. And then when they're like, OK, I do need the help, it's like dang, I wish you would have come and asked for the help a week ago, a month ago, two months ago. Better late than never, for sure," Brown said. Some of the services include financial assistance, transportation to VA medical appointments, an opportunity to join the Guitars for Vets program and help a veteran who needs enrolled in VA health care. All of the services are free to veterans, said Brown. "We don't charge veterans for anything that we do for them," he said. Meeting outside the office may also help the veterans' organization gain attendance, he noted. "They're always looking for new members," said Brown. "Anytime you can get new membership in, you get a new crowd, you get fresh ideas, just fresh eyes to look at things. If they know we're going to be there, maybe they'll go in and they'll talk to us and they'll join the legion possibly or see what benefits they have to offer. It's a two birds, one stone type thing." Brown said they are planning other stops this year but haven't confirmed the dates yet. "Our goal is to definitely go around to the other veterans' organizations, whether it's the VFW, the DAV and the AMVETS because we know not everybody is a member of the legion. Some are members of the AMVETS, so we'll go over there to the AMVETS," he said. "At the end of the day for us, the goal is to how can we help support veterans and their family members in our community. One of the ways we figure we can do that is by going to them," added Brown. For more information, visit hancockveterans.com or call 419-424-7036.