The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture hosted a veterans resource fair Tuesday night where more than 30 organizations attended to help serve veterans. This year’s resource fair was titled, “Feeding Veterans: Mind, Body, and Soul.”
Established in 2020, the fair runs as a partnership between the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s (CCUA) Veteran Urban Farm and the Truman VA Hospital, dedicating over 10,000 hours to veteran recreational therapy and professional development.
Crystal Wiggins, an Air Force veteran and CCUA’s veterans program manager, said the fair emphasizes the support for veterans and makes them aware of the opportunities in their communities.
“This is proof that there’s a lot out there for veterans,” Wiggins said. “It can just be really overwhelming to try to search for all these organizations when you get out, so putting them all in one place can make it a lot easier for individuals.”
The fair provided access to numerous organizations that specialize in recreational therapy, health programs and other mental health needs.
“It depends on what an individual needs, these organizations have a variety of different skill sets and different areas of focus,” Wiggins said. “We have the whole health program that does a lot of activities like yoga and tai chi, then we have recreational therapy from the VA that takes people out to do pottery and woodworking. We also have suicide prevention.”
One of the organizations in attendance at the fair was K9s on the Frontline, a nonprofit focused on getting veterans fully trained PTSD-service dogs.
Sarah Hoy, a Truman VA employee, believes this is one of the best opportunities available for veterans at this year’s fair.
“We have K9s on the Frontline, which is a huge opportunity for veterans that want a service dog or have a service dog that needs training,” Hoy said. “It is a phenomenal asset for veterans. It helps them in so many different ways, their mental health, behavioral, social anxiety. It gets them focused for life.”
Like K9s on the Frontline, many veterans in attendance were unaware of the potential benefits that are offered in the VA or for veterans in general. Hoy expressed how important events like the resource fair are for veterans.
“Very important. A lot of things change and there’s a lot of things that veterans don’t even know that they exist. The (Healthy) ‘Teaching Kitchen’ is handing out recipes. Many didn’t even know they were provided at the VA,” Hoy said. “This is a way of showing veterans who just got out of the military what the VA offers. They hear terrible rumors about the VA and horror stories, but we try to show them that we are one big happy family.”
In a time where homeless populations continues to rise in mid-Missouri, both the fair and the VA offered organizations that work to combat homelessness among veterans.
“A program called the CWT (Compensated Work Therapy), a work transition program for homeless veterans that are enrolled with the VA so we can serve them further healthcare,” Hoy said. “It provides them housing, transportation to the hospital, and we give them a job. It helps them feel more secure”
More information on CCUA’s programs for veterans can be found online.