Veterans Service Office is there to help
Shellie Shaw, the Taylor County Veteran’s Service Officer, along with Nikki Sherman, Veteran’s Benefit Specialist, represent Taylor County Veterans in obtaining benefits that they may be eligible for according to the Veterans Affairs (VA). With there being over 2,000 veterans in Taylor County alone, the office helps numerous individuals daily. Some examples of how the office can help a Veteran is to make a claim for any serviceconnected injury or illness that the Veteran may have, any benefits upon death for the surviving spouse, and educating Veterans on benefits that they may be eligible for. Every situation is unique and needs to be evaluated to determine eligibility.
The Taylor County Veteran’s office holds an annual event for Veteran’s Outreach. The Veterans Outreach Day is held at the Taylor County Fairgrounds and is an opportunity to meet other Veterans, enjoy music, good food, and connect with local services that support Veterans. That day, Veterans can also meet with Tomah Medical Center and other Veteran resources. This is a fundraising effort to raise funds to help support the Outreach Day and to support Veterans with unmet needs that may arise throughout the year. Next year the event will be held on September 10, 2022. If you are a Veteran and want to explore benefits that you may be eligible for, please call the office at 715-748-1488.
Shaw stated, “The best part of my job is meeting Veterans and hearing about their time in service.”
An anonymous donor, who is not a veteran, personally handcrafts burial flag cases and donates them to the Veteran families.
Arnold Koeppe, Army Veteran, said “These girls have helped me out so much with getting hearing aids and a Veteran ID on my drivers license, they help me so much and they are the best of the best! I can’t say enough good things about them.”
Note: the version of this article that ran in the Journey’s Section in the October 14 issue of The Star News contained errors.
