NEWBURYPORT — With around 20 different organizations set up within in the Newburyport Senior/Community Center Wednesday, local veterans had an opportunity to amass more information about the various benefits they have available to them.
“We’ve learned more about veterans benefits here than we could even imagine,” 76-year-old Amantha Moore said, as she left the event with her husband, 76-year-old Army veteran, Stephen Moore.
The two were among the more than 100 veterans and their families that attended the Council on Aging’s Veterans Resources Fair, which went on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“This is the first time that we’re doing it, and we’re happy with the turnout, not only from the people who support the veterans, but also the veterans themselves,” Newburyport Veterans Services Officer Kevin Hunt said.
Of the 20 organizations present, some are government agencies, while others are private charitable organizations, Hunt added.
Among the organizations present were the New England Center and Home for Veterans, the Lowell Vet Center, the Amesbury VFW Post, and Company 2 Heroes, a nonprofit focused on helping veterans get their dogs trained as service dogs.
Sitting at her table with service dogs 5-year-old English lab, Kona and 10-year-old cavachon, Lucy; Company 2 Heroes Executive Director Kate Vanauken explained why they help veterans train their own dogs rather than get paired with an already trained dog.
“Currently, there is like a year and a half, two years, even two and a half year waiting list, waiting period for people. So if a veteran goes and fills out an application and then they say, ‘OK, when can I get my dog?’ It’s like, ‘well, it might be a couple years,’” Vanauken said.
She said that service dogs provide veterans who are suffering with mental health issues a way to get out of their funk and to find new purpose.
“All of a sudden they’re walking that dog. So they’re out. They’re getting air, oxygen, exercise, all the things they really need to be out in public and get assimilated back into society instead of just staying in their PTSD and their depression at home alone by themselves,” Vanauken said.
She said that the training itself can take quite some time.
“It could take two to three, four years, it depends,” Vanauken said.
Hunt discussed why the resource fair is an important offering to provide to local veterans, sharing that one reason is veterans do not always have a mindset of helping themselves.
“So when they come to an event like this, you hear them saying things like, ‘Gee, I didn’t know that. I had no idea I could get that.’ That’s one reason,” Hunt said.
He said the other reason is that with the large number of benefits offered in the state, even those who are informed can stand to learn something new.
“Jeremiah and I just learned today that the state pays a veteran bonus to the surviving spouse of a veteran who never collected the bonus,” Hunt said.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.