Annual Plainfield breakfast event guides veterans to available services

A breakfast held each year in Plainfield offers veterans a glimpse into help they may not know about.

State Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, hosted the breakfast Saturday at the Plainfield Township Community Center.

“It’s to support our veterans,” Cappel said before of the start of the event. “Many of them are on a fixed income and they need to to be aware of the services that are out there.”

Presenters included Anthony Vaughn, assistant director for the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, who assured attendees that the state agency can help them with the sometimes difficult challenges of understanding government benefits available to them.

“We help you get what you need,” Vaughn, a Marine veteran, said. “We help you navigate what can be complicated terrain so the process doesn’t feel daunting or frustrating.”

Help closest to home comes from the Will County Veterans Assistance Commission.

VAC Superintendent Jen Solum, a veteran herself, invited veterans to stop by the agency’s office at 2400 Glenwood Ave. in Joliet.

“I encourage you to come to the Veterans Assistance Commission. Even if it’s just to come and say hi, we’d like to meet you.”

Services provided by the VAC include a driver who takes veterans to medical appointments. The VAC has a food pantry and counseling for veterans in need. Staff helps veterans work their way through the often complicated procedures that come with benefits such as a pension program for those who served during wartime.

Veterans typically begin to explore benefits available to them when they reach retirement age, Solum said.

“The majority of veterans we are serving are from the Vietnam era,” she said. “When veterans start to retire from a civilian job, they say, ‘OK, now it’s time to take care of myself.’ And, they come to see us.”

Other service presented at the breakfast were:

• Prairie State Legal Services, which has an office in Joliet and has a division devoted to legal services for veterans.

• AllenForce, which has an office at the Plainfield Township Community Center and provides services to veterans making the transition from the military to civilian life.

Speakers included Natalie Coleman, a Will County Board member who served in Iraq during her 13 years as a military police officer with the Illinois Army National Guard.

Coleman spoke of the service that veterans continue to contribute to their country after their military service is completed.

“We continue to serve whether through volunteer work, mentorship or being a pillar of service to our fellow veterans,” Coleman said.

Cappel said she continued the verterans breakfast, which was started by her predecessor, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, the former senator of the 49th District who now is county executive in Will County.

“I started this program in honor of my father, who was not able to see me serve as a state senator but served in the Korean War as a marine,” Bertino-Tarrant told about a dozen veterans who attended the breakfast.