{"id":187818,"date":"2024-05-21T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=187818"},"modified":"2024-05-28T13:22:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T13:22:29","slug":"nca-spreads-memorial-benefits-awareness-at-homes-on-wheels-alliances-2024-rubber-tramp-rendezvous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=187818","title":{"rendered":"NCA spreads memorial benefits awareness at Homes on Wheels Alliance\u2019s 2024 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its ongoing mission to raise awareness of VA memorial and burial benefits, Martin Wright from the National Cemetery Administration\u2019s Office of Engagement and Memorial Innovation attended the Homes on Wheels Alliance<\/a>\u2019s 2024 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) in Quartzsite, Arizona. <\/p>\n

RTR is held annually in January, and it provides an opportunity for those who live a mobile lifestyle\u2014in vehicles such as vans, RVs, and buses\u2014to learn more about the benefits and support available to them. In fact, Veterans make up a meaningful contingent of RTR attendees. For them and many others, the mobile (or nomad) lifestyle is a call back to the experience of military service\u2014with regular deployments, tight living quarters and the ability to innovate on the go. <\/p>\n

As the first NCA employee to perform outreach at RTR, Wright found a receptive audience. During the three-day event, he spoke to over 150 Veterans and others regarding burial and memorial benefits earned through military service and the financial savings found in using NCA and VA benefits. For those planning to utilize a VA National Cemetery, that could mean up to $8,500 in savings.<\/p>\n

The popularity of NCA\u2019s outreach during RTR, and the need to reach more Veterans within the mobile lifestyle community, led Wright to contact RTR\u2019s founder, Bob Wells, one of the community\u2019s most well-known advocates and communicators. Wells has over 20 years of \u201cvandwelling\u201d and has amassed over 725,000 subscribers to his\u00a0\u201cCheap RV Living\u201d YouTube channel. Famously, he appeared in the 2021 Academy Award winning film,\u00a0\u201cNomadland,\u201d which tells the story of a widow traveling the United States discovering her new life in the nomad community.<\/p>\n

Wright met up with Wells and Cody\u2014his dog\u2014at his van in Pahrump, Arizona. VA burial and memorial benefits are a particularly poignant topic for Wells, and he spoke of his own family\u2019s experience of interring his son at Fort Richardson National Cemetery in 2011. In the video, he recounts the cemetery staff\u2019s care and dignity for his son and how all Veterans and their families receive the same honorable burial at a national shrine when using their VA memorial benefits.<\/p>\n

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