By Melissa Montoya | The Brownsville Herald
The high volume of calls from veterans to his office led U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, to believe there should be a better way to inform them about resources at their disposal.
“I can tell you that every day my staff, at the district level, receives tons of calls a day from veterans with different issues,” Vela said.
According to Vela, the issues differ from person to person. Some call about medical issues; others ask about their disability benefits, while still other veterans ask about employment opportunities.
“I thought while we were in recess it would be a good time to bring different resources for veterans in one place,” Vela said. Congress resumes work in September.
To that end, Vela and his office, and the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College will host the first-ever Congressional Veterans Summit today where organizations will provide information in the form of a job fair, health fair and resource fair.
The summit will be held at the UTB International Technology, Education and Commerce Center or ITECC campus and begins with a ceremony at 10 a.m. and runs until 3 p.m.
According to a demographic study report on veterans by the Texas Workforce Investment Council, a total of 18,188 veterans lived in Cameron County in 2011.
More than 120 service members are helped by the Veterans Upward Bound at UTB, David Rivera, director for the program, said. Rivera said he hopes veterans will attend Saturday’s summit to find out about resources they could possibly be missing.
“The military is very regimented,” Rivera said. “After so many years of being in that environment you come over here and you are on your own.”
