A Salute to our Veterans event was held at the Wakulla County Community Center on both Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22, to provide services such as medical, dental, eye care, veterans services, counseling, financial literacy, haircuts, music and more. The event was hosted by Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary Post 4538 and was open to all Veterans and their families.
Winston Murphy, Wakulla County’s Veterans Services Officer, said, “We have been trying to do this event for a long time, we finally had a meeting wit the VFW and the American Legion Post and Ms. Cindy Goodwin from A Time To Change Counseling Services and we made it happen, we are thankful for the volunteers who put in a lot of effort and time who made this happen.”
“This event just shows Veterans that we do care, you are a priority, and we want to make sure we support you in your needs, your surviving spouses needs and your children’s needs. There are a lot of Veterans themselves who are losing their houses because they couldn’t pay their bills due to financial issues and through services, we were able to provide them with 3,000 to 4,000 dollars a year which will help sustain them for the rest of their lives.”, says Winston.
Winston shared, “There is an overwhelming joy everyday just having that interaction with vets during all eras of war and listening to the stories they tell of the suffering they endured as well as the good stories of serving our country, these guys paved the way for our freedom and this is my form of giving back to them.”
At the event, First Florida Credit Union provided Financial Literacy presentations on financial education and a seminar on life, family and money balance while preparing for retirement as well as investment services. Dee Dee Rudd Financial Advisor and Keith Manze, Community Relations Specialist provided their financial services for the event.
A Time For Change Counseling Services provided group counseling services at the event while Albrey Sorrell provided informative literature for event visitors to read.
Wakulla County Property Appraiser Ed Brimner provided homestead exemption information for Veterans. “I have helped three people so far today and I feel very successful, if I help only one person, I know I made a difference in someone’s life.”
Recent cosmetology school graduate Jae Coburn donated her time and skills to serve Veterans by offering free haircuts.
Florida Department of Health in Wakulla County provided health and dental information and Wakulla County EMS/Fire Rescue were present at the event as well.
Joseph Davis, Don Norris and Rich Fox were visiting at the event and said, “This is a great event and we are really enjoying all the community support; we hope they do this again next year.”
