Online Civic Academy: Veterans Services

Hi, my name is Daniel Lai. I'm the director of Central Hampshire Veteran Services, which also serves as the Department of Veteran Services for the town of Amherst. Next slide. So, within Massachusetts, state law requires that every community has a veteran service officer who administers state veterans benefits as well as assists veterans with federal benefits and any other uh resources or benefits they might need. Um Amherst belongs to our district, Central Hampshire Veteran Services, which is based in Northampton. And that current district currently includes uh 14 communities that mostly in Hampshire County from Middlefield on the eastern half of the uh county all the way out to Middlefield and Huntington in the western portion. Next slide. Our office is structured we have four personnel in our office currently. Uh the director, myself, we have an assistant director, a veteran service agent, and investigator. The way that Amherst contributes to our budget is that the office is funded by an apportionment from each community within our district. And so every year an assessment is done for the operating costs of the district. And that is paid into the district office. So what this does for Amherst specifically is it actually reduces the cost of the office. Um a bit lower than it would be if Amherst had to fund and run its own office. Um in addition to that part of the budget are the benefits themselves. And this is primarily what's called Massachusetts Chapter 115 benefits, which I'll talk a little bit more about later. Uh the important thing to note for this is that it's a set amount allocated at the beginning of the year. But with these benefits as they're a state benefit, uh up to 75% of that is actually reimbursed to the town at the end of the fiscal year. Next slide. Department operations, so essentially our job here is to aid, support, and advocate for the veterans in our communities, their families, and identify and facilitate those benefits that I already talked about a little bit at the state, local, federal level. Additionally, uh so with that, we do this through administering financial assistance program. We commonly call it chapter 115, and that is a Massachusetts assistance program for low-income veterans and their survivors. Uh additionally, one of the biggest things we do is assist with the filing of claims to the Veterans Administration. That's the federal federal Department of Veterans Affairs uh for health care, disability compensation, long-term care, and housebound services, whether that's um in home care or in nursing home type facilities, the veterans home in Holyoke, et cetera. Um as well as survivor and burial benefits. On our staff currently, we have two national accredited service officers, including myself, um but two additional personnel will be trained on that as well, which is going to expand our capability to serve Amherst and the other towns in our community and our district. Coordinating with state, local, federal, nonprofit partners to address those needs. So essentially, if a veteran walks in our door and there are issues they are having that we can't address through one of our programs, we will assist them in in finding out exactly who can help them address those needs, whether that be a veterans organization um or even just any other type of organization within the community. Uh in addition to this, we're also responsible for assisting with and often leading the organization of veterans-related events, uh particularly things like Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Purple Heart Day in August. And then, um, we also provide benefits-related events or attend benefits-related events to explain to the community and to the veterans what benefits are out there. Next slide, please. So, some of these events we just talked about and, uh, some of the significant programs. So, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, we're responsible for coordinating the flagging of the, uh, veterans graves in all of the Amherst cemeteries each year before Memorial Day, as well as coordinating the purchase of those flags for the town. Veterans tax work-off program is a program that allows veterans within Amherst to work, uh, in different community offices or programs to reduce their annual property tax, uh, cost. Uh, twice a month we, there's a Veterans for All Breakfast, uh, coordinated through and then primarily run by the Veterans Coordinator for Crest. Um, we're currently working on and and this will be within the next month, um, designating Purple, Amherst is a Purple Heart Community. And then, we're also currently working on a Know Before You Needed event in collaboration with the Amherst Senior Center, which is another one of these outreach events that basically provides, uh, veterans, their spouses, their survivors, or their caregivers with information about veteran-specific issues and benefits as our veteran population ages. Next slide, please. One of the biggest, uh, benefits that we address and and one of the things that brings money into the community are the Federal Department of Veteran Affairs benefits. Currently within Amherst, there are over 160 recipients of these types of compensation. Most of these are veterans themselves who are receiving compensation for service-connected disabilities. In addition to that, there are several pension programs that assist veterans uh, with low income. Additionally, DIC, which you'll see listed, is the dependent indemnity compensation, and that is a monthly benefit for the survivors of veterans who were 100% service connected or died of an illness or condition related to their service. Um and all told, generally this brings over $300,000 a year into Amherst through these programs. Next slide. Currently, we're hoping to get more folks involved um with some of our events. We're looking to organize a veterans commemoration committee as the number of veterans falls throughout the country just simply due to the change in in uh both draft laws and the fact that fewer people join, um our number of veterans is most heavily focused in Vietnam era right now, and that number is going down. With that, it means that organizations like the VFW and the American Legion are dwindling. Amherst uh VFW recently closed, and its American Legion is, you know, quite understaffed. So, we're hoping to get some folks together to assist us with putting together the commemorative events for Amherst. Um you can also attend those events. You know, Amherst gives a pretty good turnout to most of our veterans-related events, but we'd always like to see more people. Um you can volunteer to help us with decorating a veterans' graves each May before Memorial Day. And if you are a veteran, you can participate in the tax work-off program to reduce your annual property tax uh assessment.