Veterans Affairs selects date for veterans outreach reschedule

With the coronavirus pandemic canceling the first date for the outreach event Jasper County Veterans Affairs had planned, the board has selected a tentative date for when it would like to reschedule.

The veterans outreach event was originally planned for April. The board agreed on a tentative date in October to hopefully reschedule the event depending on the circumstances at the time.

“We still have to reschedule that. I don’t know when we are going to do that,” director Kurt Jackson said.

While the board doesn’t know what the circumstances will be, it chose a date in late October to try and plan around. The board will begin to try to contact the people who would be involved in the event as well as trying to see if a facility would be available.

“I would say its pushed to October and hope for the best and if we have got to reschedule it we have got time to do so,” commissioner Jerry Nelson said.

The board agreed that by tentatively planning the event for October it will give them another month after major activities like school restart to see what the circumstances will be.

“I will start making arrangements for facilities and we will start going forward from this point,” Jackson said.

Tentatively, the board planned the date for Oct. 27 and will begin preparations of trying to get that set up.

“We will just kind of tentative 27 and play it by ear. See how things go in the scheduling department,” commissioner Mike Naber said.

Additionally, the board discussed ways to reach out to veterans to see if they may be in need of assistance especially during these difficult times. The board inquired about the nursing homes to see if there are veterans residing there that the board could help out.

The board eventually came up with the idea it could reach out to the nursing homes to see if there is anything Jasper County Veterans Affairs could do to help out whether that be through care packages or other items.

“We should be on a first name basis with all these care providers in the county,” Nelson said.

In other business:

• The board discussed how they would perform Kurt Jackson’s review. Additionally, the board decided to put that topic off until next month’s meeting.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com