No matter their age, time of service or what capacity they served, the complicated web of national veteran services can be difficult to navigate for members of America’s armed forces.
Benefits and programs can be hard to locate. Resources for veterans hard to find. But a local volunteer organization calling themselves Salute to Veterans plans to change all of that.
“Our mission is simply to honor and assist our veterans and their families,” said Bill Plested, vice president of the nonprofit group. He gained insight firsthand after he was drafted during the Vietnam War. A trained surgeon, he was promptly reassigned to work for the Veterans Affairs Hospital for three years during the conflict. Now he wants to help active-duty and nonactive veterans find the resources they need in Southwestern Colorado.
The group, S2V for short, is currently a seven-member board of volunteers, each with his or her own experiences and sources of inspiration to help those who served their country.
While Durango and surrounding communities have several outlets to assist vets, it’s a matter of providing them with exactly what resources are available and how to go about acquiring them, according to group members.
Locally, there are needs for housing, employment, education, social services and, what S2V members are calling “a welcome environment.”
“We want to be a central point where we can send people to the right organizations,” Don Ferris said. A three-tour Vietnam veteran, he is the group’s treasurer. A clear need exists for what S2V members see as a centralized resource center.
“It’s just that one (veteran’s) group sees the needs from veterans but doesn’t know the other group can help,” he said.
S2V secretary Holli Pfau and coordinator Tammy Tyner said they have long supported military personal, but they have been challenged to find out how to participate in more effective ways.
The daughter of a Navy captain, who served in the Pacific, Pfau said many people aren’t aware of what they can do. “People don’t know how to help, but now they have a place to go,” she said.
The group got it’s collective inspiration from a Montrose veterans group called Welcome Home, Montrose. Member Carolyn Plested, a nurse, said she became motivated in starting a program when Colorado state Sen. Ellen Roberts challenged residents to make a difference. She already had experience, co-founding Operation Second Chance, where military personal wounded in combat could come to the area for recreation. The daughter of military parents, Plested grew up around the challenges that face vets.
“I’ve been interested in doing more,” she said. “Something more broad.”
President Ron Tyner and daughter Tammy have worked with veterans in TherEx, and equine-assisted therapeutic program where vets worked with horses, as well as other equine programs for veterans.
The group is organized and is working with private parties, local business, local military organizations and others that want to help, but the group does need volunteers.
“There is a phenomenal reservoir of good will within this community,” Bill Plested said. “Sometimes the VA needs a little nudge, and sometimes these kids need a champion to go out for them and help them get what they want.”
He added that there are currently 685,000 backlogged claims filed nationally with Veterans Affairs. S2V wants to help.
S2V is conducting focus groups to see how to match the needs of veterans with what can be offered by the community. A launch of the group’s services is planned for spring.
Currently, the group is seeking space to provide that central location of resources for the estimated 4,000 veterans in La Plata County. The volunteers hope to be in place by Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11. It will house a database, be ground level for accessibility and attended by an employee.
The name, Salute to Veterans, according to group members, wasn’t hard to come by.
“The salute is a gesture of respect,” Plested said. “Of honor, and thankfulness. We want a community that salutes our veterans. That’s the way we want this community to be seen.”
bmathis@durangoherald.com
