On a bright, shining Friday morning, the community came together to help its veterans at the Las Cruces Veterans Helping Hands- Veteran Stand Down event. This event was organized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars New Mexico Foundation at the Las Cruces Vet Center.
On Oct. 24, many organizations came together to help veterans in need. These organizations offered various resources like housing and employment services, medical benefits, and assistance with mental health.
One organization present was the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services (NMDVS). This organization was there to help vets find healthcare aid. Veteran Service Officer for the NMDVS, Vincent Tellez, clarified the difference between state veterans’ services and the VA, emphasizing their role in helping veterans with disability claims.
“What we do is how veterans look for disability. A lot of people confuse us with the actual VA, but we are state employees,” Tellez said.
The Department of Veterans’ Services in New Mexico also specializes in helping women veterans with various needs, including claims processing and alternative services that are primarily women-based.
“The needs of women are different because our experiences in the military aren’t the same as when men have their experiences,” Women Veterans Program Manager Amberly Viner said.
The event provided a variety of services veterans can look out for in times of need, like meals, housing assistance, haircuts, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to critical resources such as employment services and substance abuse treatment programs.
Also at the event was Right at Home Las Cruces, a company that provides in-home care services. Run by Jerome Hanway and Dan Contreras, this organization focuses on the activities of daily living to help people remain independent at home rather than moving to assisted living or nursing homes.
“You know, we are happy to support them (veterans). We do other events throughout the community for veterans. And just like most of the vendors here, we kind of are all the same players.” Contreras said.
These outreach programs inform veterans about available benefits to support their daily needs.
“We need more programs like this, because a lot of veterans just do not know that they are eligible for health services. They do not know that they are eligible for insurance coverage, and they do not know that they are eligible to receive free food,” Representative for eligibility and registration at Veterans Health Services, Kelvin Alexander, said. “And it helps when we come together, and we can show the veterans what they are entitled to and what people are giving them.”
Alexander values the program, having served in the Army as an information system specialist, and shares his family’s military background. He especially highlighted how important it is to him that the community plays a role in supporting veterans, however it can.
“It’s really a positive thing for the community when all of us are coming together to these types of events, to not only serve the community, but it also allows us to work with other organizations to figure out how we can help them as well, or we can work together,” Hanway said.
