Mobile Veteran Center Visit and Website Rollout on Suicide Awareness
On August 13, 2024, 1st Vice Commander John Hacker, John E. Jacobs American Legion Post 68 Leland, will host a presentation on the newly developed website betheoneconnects.org. Hacker is the North Carolina Chair for the American Legion’s “Be the One” program. The program, which begins at 10 a.m., helps raise awareness of the alarming rate of veteran suicides and provides resources to help address the issue. Veterans, active-duty personnel, and members of the public are invited to attend. Please RSVP to jveteran13@gmaiI.com.
Post 68’s “Be the One” program serves veterans and their families in Brunswick County. It is recognized as a state leader and will serve as a model for American Legion Posts throughout North Carolina. The program is presented at the Brunswick Community College Extension Campus in Leland (2025 Enterprise Boulevard) every second Tuesday until December from 10 a.m. to Noon.
Featured at the August 13th event will be a VA Mobile Veteran Center (MVC) Van. North Carolina has two MVC Vans. Nationally, the VA has 83 such vehicles. The vans are large mobile vehicles with space for confidential counseling and are used to reach out to eligible individuals in communities that are distant from existing services. MVCs can access records through an encrypted connection. With this capability, MVCs are often called upon to support the VA in providing emergency services in response to national emergencies and disasters, such as the tornado that hit Ocean Ridge a few years ago. This is an opportunity for veterans to visit the van and learn about its capabilities.
Readers interested in learning more about the “Be The One” program and available resources should visit the website https://www.betheoneconnects.org/. The site links to many resources that are available to veterans and their families today, including food, housing, employment, addiction, and others. Questions may be directed to jveteran13@gmaiI.com. The Post 68 website is accessible at https://ncpost68.org/.