When a guy wearing a hard hat walked into the Clark County Veterans Assistance Center, a volunteer figured it was bad news.
With all the construction work downtown, Joe Fettig expected a warning that trucks and construction equipment would be blocking their stretch of Columbia Street.
But the man had some great news. He had been in the office before, as a needy veteran. Fettig recalled what the man in the hard hat told him: “You guys helped me. Now I’m the foreman of a crew” working on one of the downtown projects.
Judy Russel had a similar experience.
“A woman veteran was living in her car with her three kids,” Russel said. “We helped her find housing and a job. She came in recently; she wanted to let us know how grateful she is, and she wants to volunteer.”
There are more stories like that, and staffers will be looking to share them when the Veterans Assistance Center holds a grand reopening Saturday. The event will be from noon to 3 p.m. at 1305 Columbia St.
The reopening is a chance to show off the expanded facility and to remind the community of the center’s mission.
“We need your donations, and your support and your talent,” Russel said.
The nonprofit center is affiliated with the county’s Veterans Assistance Fund, which is supported by county property taxes (about a penny per $1,000 of assessed valuation). Russel is the fund administrator.
The center’s mission includes helping veterans reintegrate into the community. That transition can include unemployment, health problems, family issues and homelessness. The center helps by connecting veterans and their families with Veterans Affairs programs and community-based services.
The center can provide limited financial assistance for expenses that include car repairs, a month’s rent, power bills and prescription drugs.
It relies on volunteers to serve those veterans, and those roles occasionally overlap.
Sam Muck got some help for his family at the center, and the Army veteran was back a few days ago working in the storeroom, organizing supplies.
“If someone had told me that I would be in a dire situation, we’d have gotten into an argument,” Muck said. “Things happen. It’s very humbling.”
In what’s become a familiar story, Muck and his family found themselves priced out of the housing market.
“We have income. We just have no place to live,” Muck said. “These people came to my rescue.”
Two service officers, including Russel, are accredited to help veterans and their family members get through the paperwork that is a big part of accessing veterans’ benefits. About 70 people come in each month for help processing their VA claims.
A few days ago, Rob Pengra wanted to know about his mother’s eligibility for VA benefits. Her late husband had been discharged from the Navy in 1952.
“It’s always better to ask,” service officer Pamela Davis said.
She went through the eligibility form with Pengra, observing that his mother had been married for 30 years and that her late husband was discharged from the Navy in 1952. He served during the Korean War, Davis noted.
Other family assistance is geared for a much younger demographic. Their Christmas toy program for veterans’ families generates a lot of smiles, Fettig said — for the volunteers as well as the kids.
For Fettig, it was the man who came in with his child to pick up a free toy: “I hear a little bitty scream, and it’s a girl with a yellow dump truck.”
