HONOLULU — The state Office of Veterans Services, Hawai‘i Veterans Foundation and AARP have joined forces to deliver an online Hawai‘i State Veterans Summit later this month through the end of July.
Free weekly workshops on Zoom are scheduled each Tuesday and Friday beginning on June 22.
The seminars will help veterans get answers to questions about benefits and important issues. The workshops will connect veterans with service providers from the Veterans Administration, health-care counselors and financial-planning experts.
“Veterans of all ages will be able to get answers to questions about benefits, veterans’ health issues and care-giving,” said Jackie Boland, AARP Hawai‘i outreach director.
“The online format also means it will be easier for neighbor island veterans to attend. The sessions will be spread out over several weeks, and will include a veterans fraud-awareness workshop, and fun activities like a free movie showing and trivia game with prizes.”
“We are proud to be able to help veterans connect to information and resources they need, by delivering this program virtually,” said Carlos A. Santana, summit chairman. “We originally feared we might have to cancel it due to the COVID pandemic.”
“We’re thankful and honored to partner with AARP, the Hawai‘i Veterans Foundation and the State Veterans Summit Planning Committee to provide these series of weekly topics and briefers that were selected by veterans, for veterans through an online survey of previous participants,” said Ron Han, OVS director.
“Please spread the word on these free, virtual sessions, and join us.”
The first summit in 2019 drew approximately 700 veterans over a two-day period at an in-person event at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
On hand were groups such as the TriWest Healthcare Alliance, Aligned Mortgage, Cohen’s Veterans Network, the Chris Kyle Patriots Hospital, the Wounded Warrior Project, and many others. Officials from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs were also there to provide the most-current information about benefits, health-care and memorial affairs.
Go to hawaiiveteransfoundation.org/ to see the full schedule and register for a Zoom link to the workshops.
