Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Veteran resource event today at ENMU

Financial services, VA hospital reps to be in attendance.

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University’s first veteran resource event will have many benefits for veterans, but according to the event organizer, clarity is among the most important.

The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Campus Union Building Ballroom.

Organizer Gretchen Leigh said many of the educational benefits available to veterans aren’t utilized, because their potential recipients don’t know they qualify for them.

“The resources will be here who will be able to let them know whether they have educational benefits (through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs),” Leigh said, adding that colleges present at the events will include ENMU and Clovis Community College.

“Our financial service officers will be there, and they’re well-versed in being able to talk about the different types of loans, scholarships that are available; they will be there too if they do not qualify for the traditional Veterans Administration educational funding,” she said.

Also present at the event will be the Clovis Workforce Center, which has federal funding set aside to help veterans attain various career certifications.

“HVAC is one of them, RN is another one, and they’re gonna be here with their list of federal funding. Veterans have priority placement in those programs,” she said.

Fifty organizations in all will be present at the event, each offering a unique service to veterans, said Leigh.

“We have three VA hospitals that are attending: Amarillo, Albuquerque and El Paso. We have two congressmen’s offices that are gonna be here: Sen. (Martin) Heinrich and Sen. (Tom) Udall’s congressional offices will be here,” she said. “If veterans need to submit claims for injuries or whatever, those congressional offices always help in expediting it.”

There will be two sessions — one from 10 a.m. to noon and the other from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. — during the event in which medical and educational professionals will present services they provide veterans.

A veteran herself, Leigh said she has never participated in a veteran’s resource event the size of the one happening today.

“I’m originally from California. I have been in most major cities in the United States, worked for the Veteran’s Commission and never in my life have I seen this many of these kinds of resources available to any veteran. I truly am humbled,” she said.