Chelcey Adami

The Californian

The Monterey County Homeless Stand Down for Homeless Veterans returns this weekend to provide three days of concentrated services for those who have served our country.

The event offers a wide array of services including clothing, haircuts, meals, housing services, counseling, legal services, spiritual counseling, employment referrals, veterinary services for pets, health services, as well as assistance with substance abuse, Veterans Affairs claims, obtaining military records documents, driver’s licenses and more.

A large team of people are volunteering their services at the event including six judges providing legal services, 20 dentists with health services, and others.

“These are veterans who have at one point raised their right hand and swore to give their lives for their country and served and sacrificed,” said Terry Bare, executive director of the Veterans Transition Center. “Many came back broken, battered and damaged in different ways, and as a community, we owe them our best effort to try to get them get back on their feet and help them out any way we can to help them have a better life.”

The event is sponsored by the United Veterans Council of Monterey County and the Veterans Transition Center located in Marina in hopes of improving access to the services to homeless veterans, many who struggle to simply get from one place to the next, explained VTC Executive Director Terry Bare.

“When you’re a homeless veteran, you don’t have access to a lot of services and maybe you don’t have transportation either,” he said. “It’s hard to get around and schedule these appointments so we put it all in one location.

It’s a great opportunity to get there and get everything in one location.”

The three-day event also includes a temporary tent city for homeless veterans, and families and pets of homeless veterans are welcome to attend with accommodations also made available for them. All levels of military service discharge are welcome.

“We’re not going to help everybody or change everybody’s lives, but even if we help one person or change one person’s life, it’s worth it,” Bare said.

More than 500 homeless veterans are expected to receive services in the event, and this is the third year for the event to be held in Monterey County. Similar events are also held in other areas of the country as part of a national movement.

Volunteers are still needed to help set up the camp today, Thursday and afterwards on Sunday. To volunteer for a shift to set-up or take-down the event, visit www.montereystanddown.org/ and click on the “Volunteer Form.”

Free transportation is provided for veterans to and from the event. For more information call Marlene at 831-883-8387, extension 238.

Pre-registration is available at the Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County in Marina, Santa Cruz Veterans Center, Veterans Affairs Monterey/Seaside Clinic, Monterey Veterans Services Office, Salinas Veterans Services Office, King City Veterans Services Office, and San Benito County Veteran Services Office in Hollister.

The event begins at noon on Friday and end at noon on Sunday and will be located in the Old Ft. Ord Motor Pool area located at 4400 Joe Lloyd Way in Seaside.

If you go…

What: Monterey County Homeless Stand Down

Where: Old Ft. Ord Motor Pool area located at 4400 Joe Lloyd Way in Seaside

When: noon Friday through noon Sunday