Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces who live in the Virgin Islands were urged Friday by Morris Moorehead, director of the V.I. Office of Veterans Affairs, to sign up with his office and benefit from its services.
Moorehead was at the sparsely attended budget hearing in Frederiksted Friday to present his office’s 2010 general fund budget request of $456,000 to the Finance Committee. The request, the same as Gov. John deJongh Jr.’s recommended appropriation, is a slight increase over the 2009 appropriation of $414,000.
Because the Virgin Islands office is separate from federal veterans programs, not all veterans in the territory take advantage of its offerings.
"We have many veterans here, from Iraq and Afghanistan, from the first Iraq war and Vietnam, who don’t know our office is there to help," Moorehead said. "To any veterans who may hear my voice or see this on television, I’d like to urge you to sign up with us."
Signing up will help the office provide services, gather information and also help it bring in federal funding for veterans by demonstrating how many veterans really are living in the territory, he said.
The Office of Veterans Affairs, one of the smallest in the government, has a total of six employees including Moorehead and is within the Office of the Governor. It has a mandate to compile data on veterans, aid in their educational pursuits, assist with employment and job referrals, and provide other benefits including free ambulance transportation and free burial plot and death benefits. It acts as an entirely local supplement to the federal Veterans Administration.
On a day to day basis, its biggest services to veterans are paying for veteran burial services and helping with travel expenses for veterans getting medical attention at federal VA facilities, Moorehead said. But they are engaged in a variety of projects dealing with veterans. This year, those included working with the Department of Housing Parks and Recreation and the Public Finance Authority to renovate the Verne Richards Veterans Memorial Park in Frederiksted, adding monuments to each branch of the armed services and a bust of the park’s namesake, which won some praise from Senate President Louis Hill.
"The two veterans parks are by far the best, really the most beautiful public spaces the local government maintains," Hill said, suggesting they serve as a model for how green spaces can improve the quality of life of a community.
In addition to money from the general fund, the Veterans Affairs Office has $200,000 at its disposal from the miscellaneous section of the budget, which is available until expended for veteran’s burial and death benefits. It anticipates receiving $250,000 from the V.I. Lottery, a sharp increase from the $70,000 it received from Lottery in 2009. The lottery money and $20,000 from the Division of Licensing and Consumer Affairs from the auction of taxi driver medallions, are allocated to Veterans’ Affairs by statute.
No votes were taken at the information gathering hearing. Present were Hill, Sens. Craig Barshinger, Wayne James, Sammuel Sanes and Patrick Sprauve.
Veterans can call the Veterans Affairs Office on St. Croix at (340) 773-6663 or on St. Thomas at (340) 774-6100 to register and find out more about the services the territorial office provides.
