VETERAN SERVICES COMMUNITY GOALS

The Veterans Services office on campus has been strongly active this term, and has many plans to remain that way and continue offering support to student veterans at Mt. Hood Community College.

Veterans Services employees offer resources both to student- and non-student veterans. Their primary mission is to facilitate paperwork between students and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But workers also offer assistance for those looking for employment and pursuing education. They try their best to do a little of everything a vet may need.

Joseph Frantz is the Veterans Outreach Coordinator at MHCC. A specific goal of his is to create more ways to assist veterans. He has been able to get outside services such as Veteran Service Officers to come to the Mt. Hood campus and help facilitate students completing their medical, compensation and pension, and disabilities paperwork.

Normally, a person would have to go to downtown Portland and wait a couple of weeks to even get an appointment for that type of help.

“It’s a really hard task to get all that process done, so to be able to get that kind of help from the VA here (at Mt. Hood) has been a game-changer for a lot of our student vets,” Frantz said. He said he’s aware of a couple of individuals going through rough times, and he knows it’s hard to convince them to travel to get help, so being able to have VSOs on campus makes it easier for them, and other students who already come to campus for class.

The Veteran Services office and the Veterans Club hosted the Veteran Resource Fair at Mt. Hood in late November. A counselor, a VSO, and an employment specialist that works with the WorkSource of Oregon attended the fair. Frantz says this event was important because of all the assistance people were receiving.

“There were people getting their medical (issues sorted) out for the first time and people receiving counseling,” said Frantz. Another one of his targets is to get this kind of help once a month instead of just once a term, besides “hopefully opening that up for vets who aren’t students,” he said.

Frantz believes that could positively change many lives, but also knows there are pros and cons to allowing non-student vets on campus.  He said he plans on talking to the college to get its input, but imagines that it would give Mt. Hood more of a community aspect.

Non-veterans welcome

Besides the Veterans Services office there is a student Veterans Club, which is run by and belongs to Mt. Hood students.

Paola Gomez is the president of the club. The club and the office work together in organizing most of their events. Something the Veterans Services office and the Veterans Club want students to know is that anyone may be involved in the club. Students don’t have to be a veteran or have any ties with the military to be a part of the club. All they have to do is show up to the Veterans Services office (near the MHCC Bookstore) at 10 a.m. on Fridays for the club’s weekly meeting, and introduce themselves to anyone in the office.

Right now, Veterans Services and the student club are focusing on the Toys for Tots campaign. This holiday-oriented effort is run by the U.S. Marine Corps, and Mt. Hood is one of the only two local organizations east of Interstate 205 that takes part in this toy drive.

The goal is to gather unwrapped Christmas toys for kids. There will be drop boxes where students may leave their donations around the campus: one in the Library, one in the Veterans Services office, and one in the Student Services office.

The Toys for Tots campaign will end the last day of Finals Week, on Friday, Dec. 14.