WAY TO GIVE BACK
Event Offers Array Of Services To Vets, From Legal Aid To Haircuts
ROCKY HILL — More than 1,000 veterans from around the state and all branches of service came by car, bus and van to attend the state Department of Veterans Affairs annual Stand Down event at the Veteran’s Home and Hospital in Rocky Hill Friday.
The event, which began in 1992 in Connecticut with a focus on helping homeless veterans, has expanded its outreach efforts to provide a wide array of services, including legal aid, health screenings, motor vehicle, financial, social security, recovery and more at no cost.
Miguel Ortiz, 53, an Army veteran who said he served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, said the variety of services offered at the event gives him an opportunity to “get on point” in several areas of his life.
“I got my license reinstated,” Ortiz, of Hartford, said.
Jimmy Crespo, 61, also of Hartford, said he was a member of the Army’s
82nd Airborne Division and served a tour of duty in Vietnam, where he injured his legs jumping out of planes.
Crespo was there to discuss his medical benefits and plan for surgery on his right knee and left ankle which has steel rods and pins in it.
He also received some free food and clothing.
“What they do for us is excellent,” Crespo said.
Air Force veterans Frank Mello and Patti Dumin were also at the event, providing services to visitors for their organization, Vietnam Veterans of America.
Dumin, president of the organization’s state council, and Mello, president of the Greater Hartford chapter, have been attending since 2000 and 2002 respectively and agree that it’s a well-run operation that provides plenty of services in one convenient place.
“It’s a well-rounded group,” said Dumin, who estimated that she had seen several hundred visitors at her organization’s booth Friday, including a number of female veterans of the Vietnam era.
Diana Breedlove, an Air Force veteran who served in the 1980s, was making her first visit to the event after hearing about it from a state representative she knows.
Breedlove, who came from Meriden, received clothing and a haircut, which she said she needed badly.
“There are a lot of services and I’ll be back,” she said.
For Joe Miller, the event was a homecoming of sorts because he lived at the Veteran’s Home briefly about 15 years ago.
“I come back to see where I came from,” said Miller, an Army veteran who has experienced homelessness and now lives in West Haven, where he picked up a bus that was provided by the state to get to Rocky Hill.
Friday was his sixth time attending Stand Down, defined in the dictionary as a relaxation of a military unit’s status.
“I’ve learned a lot of things here,” said Miller, who picked up some clothing, footwear and other basic items. “And I love the camaraderie with the guys.”
Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Thomas Saadi estimated that attendance was up 10 percent Friday.