One of the greatest challenges facing veterans is getting access to the resources they’re entitled to, but an effort from a South Coast Library system is looking to change that.
Roughly 20,000 veterans call Santa Barbara County home.
To help them out, the Veteran Connect Program, which opens Friday, is working to bring together information from different service groups to the Central Library location.
Programming Librarian Jen Lemberger says that if all goes well, the program will not only help vets get resources, but it will get the community involved as well.
“If the veteran themselves aren’t necessarily coming in, if a partner or a teacher of a loved one can collect the resources and work with the veteran’s themselves, that in the end is also a complete win,” Lemberger says.
She adds that regardless of how the vets get the info, the program ultimately has one goal in mind.
“The most ideal is that we would be connecting more veterans to the benefits they are due,” Lemberger says.
