GOSHEN COUNTY – In 2022, there were around 16.2 million veterans in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and most of those military war heroes are from the Vietnam War era. They are men, mainly 75 years or older.
Goshen County is the proud home of many of the men and women who have defended our great nation and those who continue to protect us.
“I’m trying to reach out to the veterans in this community on programs that they might be interested in,” the commander of the chapter four disabled veterans said in a recent letter. “The programs I am talking about are VA (Veterans Affairs) grants for disabled veterans. These grants are given to disabled veterans to help them live a more meaningful life.”
Sticker went on to mention grants were available for homes, home repair and renovation, businesses, farms, post-traumatic stress disorder, and transportation.
“When dealing with grants and things like that when it comes to the VA, some veterans try to do it on their own and they can. Some of them are pretty intelligent,” Hank Myers, national service officer with the disabled veterans’ affairs (DAV) office in Cheyenne said. “It’s not that hard – well, it is hard sometimes to read the papers and stuff and understand how to do that. What I would say this is for any veteran’s service organization and any veteran, if you have a veterans’ services organization like the DAV that you can go to help fill out the paperwork or at least explaining how it’s done because that’s the easiest way of doing.”
Myers explained his department trains “constantly” on the different grant forms, rules, and regulations needed for the VA grants.
“That way we are up to date when a veteran has a question,” Myers explained.
Some veterans may not be aware of the requirements for grants and therefore rely on Myers and his staff to be well informed.
“They might not see this (requirements) because they’re not doing it, they’re not in the mix so to speak, to know the VA now requires this form rather than that form or they require this type of evidence,” Meyers explained.
According to Meyers, county veterans’ services organizations (VSO) might not be aware of all of the requirements either because they don’t have advanced training like the DAV.
“Veterans should reach out in the direction of a VSO,” Meyer said. “I’d prefer us honestly, but they should reach out to the VSOs to say ‘Hey look this is what I’m having. I am having an issue with getting aid attendance or I need some sort of house adaptation because I’m handicapped and I need a new bathtub, a walk-in stall to take a shower or I need a ramp.’”
The DAV also has a caregiver’s program through the VA, according to Meyers.
“The DAV actually has a new program that we started up ourselves to be able to help veterans and people who are helping veterans as caregivers to be able to explain how to file the claim properly. We are there to help them firsthand and not have to go through something this crazy this trying, this difficult as some of this paperwork is,” Meyers explained.
Meyer stressed the importance of reaching out to local VSOs as the first step in checking grant eligibility or contacting the DAV office via email.
“Eighty percent of the veterans I deal with have already filed claims so we can talk to them over the phone and walk them through what they need to know,” Meyer said. “We can get them paperwork and if they have never filed claims, we can walk them through what is going on.”
Meyer explained his office, the DAV, is available to help veterans ensure their applications are correct.
“If a veteran can read the forms and figure it out themselves, more power to them,” Meyer said. “I’ve been doing this for over six years and some forms where I am like, ‘wait, this is just different than yesterday.’ So, you got to figure out the new rules and regulations. It’s best to reach out to somebody who is just a little smarter than you are.”
For more information on the VA and DAV grant opportunities, please contact Meyer at DAV.VBACHY@va.gov or (307) 433-2752.
