Stand Down event connects local veterans with community resources
OCEAN PINES, Md. – Getting veterans connected was the goal of the Veteran Stand Down 50.
The 3-day event links veterans either at risk of or are homeless with various resources from housing, food, health care, and more. Host sites across the Eastern Shore included the American Legion Post 91 in Cambridge, St. James AME Zion Church in Salisbury, and the Ocean Pines Community Center.
Gregory Bisset with Health Care for Homeless Veterans says there are many factors that contribute to veterans becoming homeless. “Many times, it’s veterans that have just fell on hard times and need the extra assistance coming out of it. We’ll help to provide them with that assistance to help them overcome that barrier of homelessness or risk of,” Bisset said.
Maryland National Guard Brig. Gen. Janeen Birckhead says it was important that these services touched places like the Eastern Shore as the area continues to be underserved. “Being a rural population in a rural area we find that veterans here do not have access to the services that they’re due,” General Birckhead said.
The Mobile Vet Center was also on-site and is just one of 78 in the U.S. It provides confidential counseling services to those impacted by PSTD or military sexual trauma. “It explores the areas for folks that don’t know where we are or can’t get to where we are this vehicle can go out to them,” Mobile Vet Center Driver Eldridge Hainesworth said.
“It doesn’t have to be like a mental health condition. It could be a concern that they need to talk about. It could be things that happened to them over there and they’re not sure how to talk about it when they get back,” US Department of Veterans Affairs Outreach Program Specialist and Elkton Vet Center’s Mary Kay Herrick said.
General Birckhead says there’s been much change and growth for many available federal and state services. She says this will allow them to be more responsive in the community. “There’s usually something for everybody, we just have to connect to find the two and find out what they are,” General Birckhead said.
The Mobile Vet Center services are also available for families and any loved one apart of a veteran’s support circle.
Over the course of the weekend, officials say nearly 100 veterans were connected to services.
