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Fourth veterans resource fair another success

Messenger-Inquirer - 3/24/2017

March 24--In a spacious hangar Thursday at the National Guard Armory in Owensboro, hundreds of men and women, young and old, gathered through a common experience.

Each of them had made a sacrifice to serve their country in the Armed Forces. Husbands, wives and children had heeded a call to defend the nation's freedoms and serve others.

"It makes me emotional every time," said Robyn Mattingly, director of social support services at Audubon Area Community Services, Inc. (AACS). "When I think about what they've done for us, I just can't put it into words."

But Mattingly, along with colleagues like Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Manager Vickie Poteat, put that emotion into action Thursday for the fourth annual Veterans Resource Fair in Owensboro.

The two women, supported by a string of AACS programs and other local organizations willing to lend a hand, helped organize another record-breaking event that aimed to connect active military personnel, veterans and their families with the social safety nets and benefits that many of them are owed.

Inspired by another successful fair in Ohio County last week, Mattingly said she could tell once again that this year's event was going to be a hit.

"When we first started this in 2013, it was small," she said. "But it's grown and grown and grown. Now, the (AACS) agency as a whole has gotten behind us, and we're hearing from all over who are willing to help."

In the days leading up to this year's event, Poteat said she has fielded calls from organizations as far away as Atlanta and Indianapolis who wanted to do their part. They've been mobilized by a Vietnam War-era military theme called "Stand Down." The concept, she said, is that units would retreat to safety during combat operations where they could receive help, take care of personal hygiene and enjoy the camaraderie of friends and colleagues over warm meals.

That theme has built up to a U.S.Veterans Affairs-driven concept that all military brethren have a moral obligation to stand up for each other in times of need, particularly to address a nationwide homeless veteran crisis.

Stand Down events, said Operation Stand Down Kentucky Vice President Justin Howard, offer shelter and services to homeless vets in particular. Now, through word of mouth, Stand Down operations are taking note of the Owensboro-based resource fair that connects vets to more than just one resource. Howard said he's willing to partner with Audubon Area to make sure his Bowing Green-based organization is expanding its reach, too.

"There's something to be said of an event that lets so many veterans (access) so many different resources," he said. "It's so common that men and women leave the service and they aren't prepared for that transition."

Present Thursday were representatives from the Corporation for National & Community Service, which supports local Senior Corps programs like RSVP. Melissa Benton said she was happy to see such a broad community-based coalition willing to stand up for vets, service men and women and families.

But it was the veterans themselves who stood as a testament Thursday.

Marilu Goodsell, 78, of Owensboro, was one of a select few women to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1950s and 1960s. She said her experience was positive overall, but she doesn't even recognize a community now so willing to help veterans.

"There was hardly anything for us back then," she said. "It was so hard to track down what you qualified for or what you didn't."

Goodsell, who also is an RSVP volunteer, served food to veterans and their families at the resource fair.

"Many of these people," she said, gesturing to the crowds in the armory, "they just don't know everything that's owed to them. I truly believe this event has done more for the community than anything else I know about."

Terry Weber is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Army. It's laughable, he said, to contrast events like the fair against his less-than-welcoming return home.

"At least something's available for these people now," he said. "You didn't get this stuff back then, or at least nobody told you about it. And I'll keep coming to this, because you never know what resources might be available to you."

Austin Ramsey, 270-691-7302, aramsey@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @austinrramsey

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