Vets Helping Vets provides help for those who have served

Veterans outreach Vets Helping Vets services include, but are not limited to, employment referrals, information regarding benefits and transportation for VA medical care. A food pantry and limited financial assistance is available on a case-by-case basis.
To receive aid, learn more or volunteer, call 401-9788.
To make a monetary contribution, send a check to Vets Helping Vets, 1515 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, FL 34470. Contributions are tax deductible.
Donations of nonperishable food are welcome.

Vets Helping Vets provides help for those who have served
By Ann Sperring
Correspondent
It is tough enough to don a uniform, leave family behind and risk your life for your country.

Now, roadside bombs transform steel into bloodied shreds and leave horrific head injuries, sending many veterans home in comas or with serious cognitive defects. Some soldiers return in caskets, others in wheelchairs or with prosthetic limbs.

And the stress of living on a razor's edge can send the mind and spirit into a lingering dark abyss.

And as tough as it is to deal with the rigors of military service, for many veterans the going gets harder in civilian life.

Hank Whittier, executive director of Vets Helping Vets, a nonprofit outreach program headquartered on East Silver Springs Boulevard, is seeing new problems among the veterans he and his volunteers serve.

"Currently, we are experiencing a significant uptick in the number of young vets needing our help. The economy is making it tougher for them to transition. Sometimes they will start with just a request for job referrals and over time end up asking for food and rent help," Whittier said.

"We are also seeing more mental health issues, with 30 percent of our veterans being affected. Family members will come seeking help for loved ones they are seeing fall apart."
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Vets Helping Vets provides help for those who have served