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Beaufort County Veterans Affairs director reports outreach gains, local economic impact and new programs
Summary
Director Caroline Furman told the council Beaufort County has about 24,000 veterans, brings in roughly $209 million annually in veteran benefits and has expanded outreach programs (free wills clinics, claims clinics, end-of-life seminars) and partnerships with Ralph H. Johnson VA and local service groups.
Caroline Furman, director of Beaufort County Veterans Affairs, provided a county-level update highlighting local outreach and economic impact. "For Beaufort County, our veterans bring in $209,000,000 a year in medical benefits, compensation and education benefits," Furman said, and she added that her team secured about $3.4 million additional benefits last year to add to that total.
Furman described the county’s outreach: quarterly Veterans Council meetings that grew from eight VSOs to more than 100; partnerships with the Ralph H. Johnson VA regional office to run claims clinics and enrollment events; free wills and powers-of-attorney clinics provided by legal volunteers; and a new end-of-life planning seminar series. She said the county opened a Bluffton office last October and that benefits-delivered-before-discharge (BDD) initiatives aim to file claims before service members separate to ease transition and support recruiting and retention.
