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Corona City Vets Connect program expands volunteers and seeks to widen hours and outreach
Summary
Library staff gave an update on Vets Connect, a volunteer-run library program that connects local veterans with benefits, housing referrals and other services; staff said office hours are currently Wednesdays 10 a.m.–noon and that the program plans more outreach and quarterly social events.
Library Specialist II Martin Villegas updated trustees on the Vets Connect program, describing current services, volunteer staffing and plans to expand office hours and outreach.
Villegas said Vets Connect provides weekly office hours (Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to noon) at the library’s community-resources office for veterans and their families. Volunteers and staff assist with benefit referrals, housing and healthcare resources, employment assistance and other veteran services; volunteers also follow up with callers and visitors and maintain intake notes. Villegas identified a primary volunteer, David, as a lead who helps train other volunteers and handle follow-ups.
Vets Connect hosts a veterans book club that meets the first and third Wednesday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the library boardroom; the group provides its own refreshments and reads books related to military service and history. Villegas said the program carried out outreach at city events, hosted a resource fair with local partners, and distributed therapeutic craft kits at community events.
Villegas described recent support and donations from the Amber Waves of Grain committee, the Corona Elks Lodge No. 22045 and the Women’s Improvement Club of Corona; those donations are used primarily to buy books and support social events and giveaways for veterans. He said the program recorded roughly two to three veteran contacts per month over the past year but noted that individual cases can require a high level of staff effort when veterans face housing, surgery or other urgent needs. Villegas said the program is compiling a survey to understand barriers, including transportation, and to guide expansion of hours and outreach.
Trustees asked about client age and services. Villegas said the program generally serves older veterans (he estimated many are 40 and older) but that outreach at community events reached a range of ages. He said the program is monitoring benefit changes following the PACT Act (the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act) and is preparing to assist veterans with eligibility questions.
Villegas said Vets Connect hopes to expand office hours once additional volunteers complete training and that staff will continue working with community partners on the planned veterans memorial project at City Hall.
