Goodwill helped orchestrate its second of six Military Veteran Stand Down events scheduled throughout the year on Friday, May 10. This event was held at the Auto Park Sports Complex in Plymouth.
Jill Powers, Veteran and Military Families Program Manager at Goodwill, shares how this event focuses on supporting veterans in the area.
“The Military Veteran Stand Down is about bringing resources to our veterans,” Powers said. “Some of our veterans might face homelessness or financial insecurity. This is our way of getting Veteran Affairs (VA) in Plymouth since there’s no clinic in the area. For some of these veterans, this is one of the only opportunities in the year that they get to come out and socialize with one another so we try to make sure everything goes well.”
This is the third year for the Military Veteran Stand Down event in Marshall County. Powers mentions that this event has helped to create a strong sense of unity between veterans, members, and their families.
“A lot of places are doing stand-downs with the key being to identify homeless veterans,” Powers said. “This includes veterans who might be unemployed or dealing with food insecurity. We hope to start getting these issues resolved through the connections the veterans can make with everybody who comes here, especially for our younger veterans.”
Sarah Youngs, Community Relations and Engagement Liaison at the Center for Hospice Care, was one of the vendors in attendance at the event. She describes how this event has given veterans a tremendous space to learn about what each vendor provides.
“This event provides fabulous resources for all of the veterans,” Youngs said. “Many of them are in need so we always want to get the word out for them to come with free resources from different organizations, whether it be healthcare or the VA.”
One could say that this event is a work on wheels. Goodwill also hosts this event in the counties of Elkhart, St. Joseph, Porter, and La Porte.
“It’s extremely important for us to hit several counties throughout the Region,” Youngs said. “The veterans who frequently come out to our events in each county get a chance to meet new people as well. This has been such a great turnout for Marshall County. The event continues to grow every time and it’s also great for us as vendors to meet so many veterans and help them however we can.”
However, the Military Veteran Stand Down event is only possible because of the overall commitment of the employees at Goodwill.
“Our vision is to take care of the entire family, not just the veteran,” Powers said. “We have a lot of employees that work at these events. Some of our employees come over and help us prepare packing food bags and boxes. We really couldn't do this if we didn't have the incredible support team at Goodwill.”
Attendees had a wide variety of giveaway prizes that they could walk away from the event with such as socks, underwear, and hygiene products. The Country Caterers provided food at the event. Veterans were also treated with bags of food they could take with them as well.
The next Military Veteran Stand Down event will take place on June 15 in Elkhart County.
For more information on Goodwill and their Military Veteran Stand Down events, you can visit their site.