Gwinnett has always made a commitment to providing health and social services to the county’s military veterans. With the opening last fall of the new Veteran and Family Services Center at 567 Swanson Drive in Lawrenceville, the county has been able to expand its efforts to honor and serve military veterans and their families.
The center provides veterans and their families with access to a wide range of services including housing solutions, medical coordination and legal advice.
“Several of the nonprofits and community-based organizations that work with our veterans are actually working with us in a cross-collaboration to be able to provide action with different services they need,” said Regina Miller, Deputy Department Director, Gwinnett Community Services. “For instance, the Disabled American Veterans Gwinnett Chapter 90 comes in and works within the office, and works with our veterans to coordinate directly with the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
This allows the center to help manage benefits provided by the VA including pension services, education, disability compensation, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivor support and medical care.
“We here at OneStop 4 Help actually empower our veterans and their families with the resources that are here in our community,” said Deputy Division Director of OneStop 4 Help and Veteran and Family Services, Michael Bolden. “We interact with various resources such as Neighborhood Cooperative of Norcross, St. Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army and Viewpoint, just to name a few. And what we do is provide them with that information so we can walk with them to access those resources and to be able to be here as a follow-up for them should they have any problems or questions.”
The need is significant. The 2020 Census reported Gwinnett is home to 39,313 veterans. The new center worked with 578 veterans in June of this year alone.
The new facility, refitted at a preexisting site owned by the county, along with staffing and a transportation component to help veterans to and from appointments, are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.
Veterans facing homelessness, food insecurity, a mental health crisis, substance abuse challenges, or simply having trouble navigating the VA system for benefits can reach out to the center at any time day or night, seven days a week.
Access to services, questions, general information or to volunteer contact 770-822-8850 or OneStopHelp@GwinnettCounty.com and www.tinyurl.com/GwinnettVAhelp.
“Our Health and Human Services team and Gwinnett County Government strive to promote community awareness of the sacrifices our veterans have made and provides veterans and their families in need with knowledge and access to services to achieve self-sufficiency and a better quality of life,” said Miller in a statement.
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