Veterans agencies to host open house

CARSON – A new outreach initiative to provide rural-area veterans information and counseling about Department of Veterans Affairs and other veteran-related benefits takes place in Carson, March 26 and 27.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with the State of Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, veteran service agencies, county veteran service officers and military transition advisors to bring information and services at a Veterans of the Armed Forces Open House at the Carson Community Center at 316 S. Commercial Street.

Veterans and their family members with questions about benefits are encouraged to stop in at the open house between noon and 8 p.m. March 26 or from 8 a.m. -11:30 a.m. March 27.

Representatives from the following agencies will be available to provide veterans assistance and information: the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, Veterans Benefit Administration Regional Office, Vet Centers, Iowa State Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Iowa Transition Assistance Advisor. Other veteran service agencies will also be available.

Veterans who are not currently enrolled for VA benefits are encouraged to bring their DD Form 214, “Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty,” to the open house to assist the agency counselors assess individual eligibility for VA benefits. VA counselors will assist veterans to complete eligibility and enrollment applications.

The open house is an outreach program intended to reach more than 167,660 veterans in rural communities across the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System service area, which includes Nebraska, western Iowa, and portions of Kansas and Missouri.

The interagency outreach team will host similar open houses in rural communities across the service area throughout 2010. The goal is to increase awareness about VA and other benefits and services available to veterans, and to assist with applying for these benefits.