The Clay County Veterans Service Office has been very busy lately.  With the cold weather, and the failing economy, we are experiencing a considerable and steady influx of new veterans, repeat clients, and transient veterans.
The increase has caused appointments to be scheduled up to 3 weeks out. Ademand for services is both a good sign and a not so good sign.  It’s not so good when so many of our veterans are either Homeless, Transient, or very low income and needing of some assistance; however it is a good sign when they come because they are confident that our office can and will be able to fully serve them.
Very soon, we will be looking at the preparation to go before the county commission to ask the county to make a half-time position (an Administrative Position), a permanent county position.  Currently this half-time position is being filled by Jennifer W., however it is being filled not by county funds, but by State-Grant monies. Therefore, the position does not carry any benefits, and is not secured, as it is only good for the term of the grant.
If you have not been to our office before, or for awhile, I ask that you please just pop in for a few minutes and look around. It is important that you are aware of your Veterans Service Office and how it is run.  I am certain you will be pleased with the many changes that have been made over the year and over the past two months. I hope you will notice our nicely appointed veteran waiting area, complete with refreshments having been donated by the DAV, the Dilworth VFW and even some non-veteran agencies that are friendly to our cause.  We are very grateful to all of our donors for continuing to accommodate our Veterans by performing this great service. EVERYDAY, veterans are sitting in our waiting area and we happen to hear them and their families remarking on what a nice thing it is for these organizations to provide like this. If your particular Post has not yet contributed, please feel free to contact our office as we have a fund setup to accommodate donations for these refreshments provided to ourVeterans in our community.
Lastly, I would like to talk volunteers. Some of the Posts in our community put out a mention in their last month’s newsletters asking fora few volunteers to assist us in our office. That mention in your newsletters really helped. It brought us several phone calls, which turned into individuals that are now going through the process of becoming volunteers. So currently our volunteer base is now up and stable, however, I will certainly call on you again, should ournumbers dwindle. Thank you for your support.

Tom Figliuzzi
Veterans Service Officer
Clay County

Veterans Service Office Website

News Release