Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans,
Many of you may have heard of and even participated in one, or more, of the five Veterans Experience Action Center (VEAC) events held in Wilmington in March of 2017, March of 2018, April of 2019, September of 2021, and November 2022. At each of those events, over 20 employees from the VA Regional Office in Winston Salem along with local Veteran Service Officers and other veteran support personnel conducted on-site meetings with veterans seeking support. During each of those 3-day events over 500 veterans received support and over $1 million in benefits were paid out.
The purpose of this message is to provide a heads-up that the 2023 VEAC is scheduled to be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, October 19, 20, and 21, at the National Guard Armory, 2421 Infantry Rd., Wilmington, NC. This is a NEW location for us. This Armory is located near ILM and provides more space than we’ve had in the past. The main hall contains 15,000 sq. ft. and there are additional large classrooms plus a full kitchen, and a medical facility upstairs available for our use. There is also ample parking, so we won’t need to run any shuttle buses this time. This new facility will allow us to provide assistance to a larger population of veterans than in the past. One of the most critical keys to success is the presence onsite of a large number of volunteers. These volunteers will perform a range of activities including assisting with registration, managing the parking lot, providing support to VA personnel, assisting the individual veterans to make sure they get to the appropriate support station, assisting with food service, and other duties as assigned. There will be multiple shifts manned by volunteers each day plus an additional shift for setting up the site prior to the VEAC on Wednesday afternoon, October 18, and another one for breaking down the site after the VEAC on Sunday morning, October 22. We are going to be asking all of the veteran support organizations in the area to poll their membership to identify volunteers who are willing to help out. This message is an alert to let you know that we will be sending another message in late July with the detailed requirements for volunteers and requesting the names of volunteers in your organization. Also, if there are any other contacts in your particular support organization in the area who you think would want to participate in this event, please feel free to share this message with them and have them contact us.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Your support and assistance is greatly appreciated.
Best regards.
Lane Adrian / Dale Todd
John E. Jacobs American Legion Post 68
Leland, NC
2023 VEAC Volunteer Coordinators