Veteran's Expo Comes to Riverside

Veterans who attended the California National Guard Armory in Riverside were recently learned of a number of resources available to them and their families. It was the first time the Veterans Expo was held in Riverside and it took over a year to get the event off the ground with the help of many individuals and sponsors. There were several booths set up around the armory handing out helpful information and providing a variety of resources from services to help veterans ranging from transportation, mental health, education, housing, and financial assistance. AMVETs, Cal Vet, Homes for Heroes, and the Riverside County Veterans Services were some of the exhibitors present. Steven Chavez is a Homeless Outreach Specialist and was there representing VA Health Care Loma Linda and said, “we support the veterans and our focus is on the chronically homeless to get them housed and connect with community services.” Captain Julius Murphy works with the Salvation Army and has been a part of the Salvation Army for 11 years. Some of his many titles include pastor, non-profit administrator, and Social Service Director within the organization. He was on hand at the expo and said, “There is a need to assist vets for access [to services] they soo richly deserve. There are expos in Cathedral City, in Beaumont and Banning, and there was a need on the Western side of Riverside County to help veterans and their families. Murphy said that they are hoping to hold Veteran’s Expos every year in May. They expected 750 people to come and over 400 veterans visited the expo during the event. John R. Marshall came with his family and stated, “So far, I like everything that’s set up. My son helped out and volunteered." Marshall learned that he was able to commute to the base in Camp Pendleton instead of driving to Fort Irwin and stated, “It’s really good for us so we don’t have to drive as far.” Murphy commented, “We just really thank the community for their support, it kind of blew our mind, sponsors helped make the event successful and several ROTC groups came to volunteer. The National Guard donated their armory free of charge and that was nice, they really shared their services for veterans.”