KENT COUNTY, Mich — Starting on Monday, people in Kent County are being asked to put green lights on at their homes and businesses, all in support of our veterans.
It's for Operation Green Light, which is meant to show appreciation for those who have served, while also raising awareness about the local services available to them.
"This is I think, it's a life raft. I think it's a lifeboat for a lot of people," says Reginald Farrior, describing Kent County Veterans Services (KCVS).
KCVS was established back in 2008, and is a place Farrior, a veteran himself, says helped him get back on his feet when he moved to Grand Rapids in 2018, after he served in Afghanistan and was medically separated from the Army.
"I was homeless at one point, when I found Kent County Veterans Services. I was just a veteran who had moved to Kent County, and was trying to see what was available for me. I applied for a job here, I got hired in as an Emergency Relief Coordinator who helps with the unforeseen emergencies in the county," explained Farrior.
Going through his own troubles, Farrior says he was actually able to apply for assistance through the same program he was helping other veterans obtain.
"I was able to apply for first month's rent, stop being homeless, get a place to live in. And then I was also able to apply for food assistance through this office, where I was able to stock my fridge whenever I stopped being homeless," says Farrior.
It was help that changed Farrior's life.
Now, he works as an Accredited Veterans Service Office, and has made it his mission to help raise awareness about Kent County Veterans Services which helps with a number of issues, such as:
- Service-Connected Disability Claims
- Applying for VA non service-connected pensions
- Applying for Surviving Spouse Pensions
- County and federal burial benefits
- Veterans ID Cards
- Eligibility Verification Reports
- Educational benefits
- Retrieving military service records
- Soldiers and Sailors Relief Fund
- Working with social services and government agencies
- Upgrading of discharges, if possible
- Document notarizing
"In Kent County, there's approximately 40,000 veterans, we estimate that we've helped maybe 25% of those," says Rachel Wustman, who works as a community outreach specialist with Kent County Veterans Services.
Wustman says, with lighting up the county green this week, they hope to reach even more men and women who have served the red white and blue.
"It is a special place in my heart to be here and to help connect veterans to the resources that they have earned," says Wustman.
"We just want to take all the barriers down so that people can ask for help, or at least just tell their story and we might just tell them they're entitled to stuff, something they don't have to feel like they're asking for," says Farrior.
Operation Green Light runs through November 12.
