6
june2
community
2016
Community Action Team: Veterans Services
Action (CCA) in Astoria.
Over the years services were
added to CAT’s offerings to address
homelessness, affordable housing,
weatherization, housing rehabilitation,
veteran’s benefits, disaster recovery,
early childhood development, utility as-
sistance and more. Ultimately the agen-
cy became a community development
corporation in order to be better able to
partner with other community entities to
serve all three upper northwest counties.
CAT plans to celebrate its 50
years on September 30 and the commu-
nity is invited. As we lead up to the cel-
ebration, return here to read true stories
of how the agency’s work has had a posi-
tive impact on the lives of our neighbors
and what the next 50 years might look
like.
***
The first program to explore
deeper is Veterans Services. Columbia
County contracts with CAT to house a
Veterans Service Officer. For three years
now Russ Clark has been in this posi-
tion and in that time he has increased
the number of veterans served by the
program by sixty percent. There are
over 6,000 veterans in Columbia Coun-
ty, many of them with whom he served
stateside and on foreign soil during his
almost 22 years in the Army. There are
still more than 4,000 not taking advan-
tage of the service and support he pro-
vides.
Outreach is an important part of
the Veterans Service Officer’s respon-
sibilities, so in addition to being acces-
sible at his St. Helens office, Clark is
available in Vernonia every first Tuesday
at the Senior Thrift Store.
Most of Clark’s life has been
spent either serving in the military or
serving others who have served in the
military. After retiring from the Army,
he served veterans while working at the
Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs
and later at the Veterans Benefits Admin-
continued from front page
istration.
and was able to receive
Today he focuses
health care through a Vet-
his efforts on serving the
erans Administration pro-
veterans and their fami-
gram. In addition, their
lies in Columbia County.
son now qualifies for
Additionally, he repre-
funds to help pay for his
sents his clients at the
college education. Before
Federal Board of Veter-
meeting with Clark, this
ans Appeals, serves as a
distraught widow didn’t
member of the Veterans
know she was eligible for
Treatment Court team,
any of these benefits and
and as a board member,
was grateful for his assis-
advisor and trainer at the Russ Clark , CAT’s Veterans tance in filing the claim
Elks Veterans Bunker. He
and seeing it through to
Services Officer.
is fully informed of the
completion.
wide gamut of the benefits veterans may
A veteran who had served in the
be entitled to receive.
Navy in the 70s was facing eviction due
Surprisingly, there are a num- to an inability to pay his rent when he
ber of people who were honorably dis- came to see Clark. There were several
charged from the military yet don’t con- things he could do to help this gentle-
sider themselves to be veterans. Clark man through a program called Sup-
wants to meet with those people and all portive Services for Veteran Families, a
other veterans to make sure they receive Veterans Administration (VA) program
all the benefits to which they are entitled. designed to prevent homelessness and to
If you know a veteran, ask them if they help those at risk of becoming homeless.
have met with their Veteran Services Of- They started by having his physical dis-
ficer; they’ll thank you for it.
abilities connected to his tour of duty so
To illustrate the impact Clark’s that he could establish a stable income
advocacy has had, he shared some true through his veterans benefits. As a result
life examples. Due to the sensitive na- the veteran was able to receive compen-
ture of these accounts, names and other sation for his disabilities and was able
personal identifiers have been withheld. to establish a more stable income. Ulti-
A Vietnam veteran’s wife was mately, the veteran was able save enough
referred to Clark by a friend after her money to buy his own home.
husband died suddenly of a heart attack.
When Clark met with a Vietnam
He did not have life insurance, they were veteran from St. Helens, he had been
too young to receive social security ben- terminally diagnosed with lung cancer
efits, and she was still raising their teen- and doctors anticipated the man would
age son. She had no source of income live for only another six months. Be-
and was at risk for losing everything cause lung cancer may be the result of
she and her husband had worked so hard exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent
to build for themselves. Clark was able Orange, Clark pushed through the vet-
to help determine that the heart condi- eran’s claim in just one day. The claim
tion that took this veteran’s life too soon
was, in fact, related to his exposure to
the toxic herbicide Agent Orange dur-
ing his military service. As a result, his
surviving spouse was due death indem-
nity compensation of $1,300 per month
2016
Volunteer
Job
Fair
was made retroactive to the first diag-
nosis recorded at the VA hospital. The
veteran was paid roughly $30,000 in
one lump sum and then about $3,000 per
month for the rest of his life. With the
additional income and while his health
allowed it, he was able to visit his chil-
dren and grandchildren out of state. He
fought the good fight and lived another
full year with a much improved quality
of life. If he hadn’t come to see his Vet-
eran Service Officer, that claim may not
have gone through until after it was too
late.
Columbia County’s Veterans
Service Officer is available to help ALL
veterans, not just those who are facing
a crisis. There is such a wide range of
benefits that a veteran may qualify for
that it can be difficult to know all there is
to utilize. Russ Clark is in place to help
navigate the system and to advocate on
behalf of Columbia County veterans.
He can help identify compensation that
might be due to you, clarify your health
benefits, point you toward vocational re-
habilitation programs, connect you with
someone who provides veteran home
financing or untangle a complicated
claim.
To find out more about how Commu-
nity Action Team might be able to help,
please call (503) 397-3511 or visit www.
cat-team.org. Office hours at 125 N.
17 th Street in St. Helens are 8:30 am –
5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Vet-
eran Service Officer Russ Clark can be
reached directly at (503) 366-6580.
Leanne Murray works for Community
Action Team as Program Operations
Coordinator in the Human Investment
Department.
Thursday
June 9
5:00 - 9:00 pm
in the large gymna-
sium at the Verno-
nia Schools
A
recent
community survey
revealed that while a
large segment of the
Vernonia area population
would like to volunteer, they
don't because of being
unaware of oppor-
tunities and not
being asked.
The
Volunteer Job
Fair will bring
together organizations
from around the community
with potential volunteers.
Potential volunteers will have
a chance to meet with current
volunteers and hear about
groups, histories, missions,
and descriptions of jobs
that need volun-
teers.
For
more infor-
mation contact
Bill Langmaid at
bill@rangelights.
com.
