Veterans services officer reports rising visits, grant application for assistance programs

Mitchell County’s veteran services officer, Marcia Bibbets, told commissioners Monday that demand for assistance has increased since she began tracking visits and that she is pursuing a $20,000 grant to support veteran needs.

Bibbets said the county has roughly 1,000 veterans and that approximately 350 have been recorded in office records since the service opened. She said the office is open three days a week and that last year the office logged about 270 in-person visits; the office has already handled dozens of visits this year.

Bibbets told the board the county office operates under the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and that her duties include helping veterans with education benefits, VA loans and disability claims. "Typically, when veterans come in, they initially start with hearing loss, tinnitus, something simple ... and that gets the door opened for me to be able to get in and look at other things," she said.

Bibbets said the office has applied for a $20,000 grant (NCBM VA grant) to be spent by Aug. 1 if awarded; the money would be used for gas cards, bus passes and other short-term assistance and outreach materials to help veterans get to appointments and access benefits. The grant status was reported as pending at the meeting.

She also described recent outreach associated with the storm response, including a "stand down" resource fair run in coordination with neighboring counties and the Greensboro Vet Center that assisted veterans when communications were down.

Commissioners thanked Bibbets for the report; no county action or appropriation was taken Monday related to the veteran services office.