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One stop location for military veterans services comes to naval park

Curt Isenberg checks out the booths for Stand Down at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park
Thomas O'Neil-White
Curt Isenberg checks out the booths for Stand Down at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park

Stand Down is a term which has been used since the Vietnam War designed to give military personnel on the frontline of war a place to decompress.

Stand Down is also the name of the centralized veteran’s services provider event hosted by non-profit Veterans One-stop Center of Western New York Wednesday morning at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.

Services such as housing, healthcare and employment are critical for military veterans regardless of when they were discharged said Veterans One-stop Chief Development Officer Kathy Zunner.

“You serve, you come back, and you aren't really given all of the resources that you need to succeed,” she said. “So if you're a civilian, you've been in this country, you have been, you know employed, you've gone through the whole system, you've, you know, had your own bank account, you've had all these things when you're in the military, you don't have the luxury of doing all of that. And so when you come back and the resources are not just made available to you, sometimes you struggle with that.”

Many veterans perused the various booths along the naval park’s boardwalk looking to get connected to vital resources and information. For other vets like Curt Isenberg it was a chance to reconnect with other vets.

“It’s like going into the Legion or going to the VFW,” he said. “It's just camaraderie. I just ran into a guy I hadn't seen in three years. He was the character that he's a character now.”

Veteran’s One-stop is hosting additional Stand Down’s at Heart, Love and Soul Food Bank in Niagara Falls in October and Jamestown Community College in November.