{"id":393915,"date":"2025-03-19T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=393915"},"modified":"2025-03-19T16:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T16:10:37","slug":"life-changing-event-for-veterans-at-gillette-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=393915","title":{"rendered":"Life changing event for Veterans at Gillette Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Mary Pederson came in to work on March 11, she didn\u2019t expect her life to change.<\/p>\n<p>Pederson is a guest services associate at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL\u2019s New England Patriots.<\/p>\n<p>But that day, the stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was the site for hundreds of Veterans and their families attending the New England Veteran Experience Action Center. VA and other Veteran organizations were there to help Veterans and their families get one-on-one services.<\/p>\n<p>Pederson is the surviving spouse of an Army helicopter pilot who was wounded during the Vietnam War and passed from his service-connected disability in 2021. When staff at the event got wind of her circumstances and her husband\u2019s service and eligibility, the team took action and started Pederson on the path to receive survivor benefits.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Mary Pederson is the surviving spouse of a Vietnam War Veteran. Thanks to staff at the New England Veteran Experience Action Center, Pederson is set to receive benefits from VA. (Photo by VA Boston HCS Deirdre Salvas)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt will be life changing for me if I have added income right now,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be 80 in May, and I have two jobs. Everything has gone up and I can\u2019t keep up with it. Something like this benefit is going to change my life. I wish there were more events like this so you can have that connection and you know someone is there to listen and help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The New England Veteran Experience Action Center, held March 11\u201312, was modeled after a similar event held last year. This year:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>823 people attended the event, including Veterans, family members, caregivers and survivors.<\/li>\n<li>120 attendees talked with VA about health care eligibility and 58 were enrolled on the spot.<\/li>\n<li>312 attendees received \u201cone-on-one\u201d Veterans benefits services, with no one waiting more than 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>97 Veterans received VA compensation and pension exams on site.<\/li>\n<li>20 Veterans who self-reported at risk for homelessness were immediately connected to community services and VA patient advocates.<\/li>\n<li>8 Veterans in crisis were immediately connected to counselors.<\/li>\n<li>101 VA IDs were issued and provided that day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The event lasted two days, due to demand, particularly because so many Veterans attended last year. Attendees seamlessly moved from VA benefits assistance to VA health care offerings, onto a full resource fair that showcased 54 agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Veterans and their families were able to connect directly with 15 VA resources, 14 federal and state programs from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and 24 Veteran Service Organizations or non-profit agencies that serve the community in ways VA and other government agencies cannot.<\/p>\n<p>To serve nearly 1,000 Veterans and their families in two days, VA staffed the event from facilities in Boston, Bedford and central Massachusetts, along with Providence, Rhode Island. Staff from VA\u2019s Veterans Experience Office supported with direct outreach to eligible Veterans in the area and other event assistance. From VetCenters to state departments of Veterans Affairs, it was all hands-on deck.<\/p>\n<p>The goal is to align VA and the community around the Veteran, all in one place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loved the event; they treated me like I was the boss,\u201d said Stenard Ross, who served in the Army National Guard and Reserve from 1982-2015. He deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 104th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Infantry Division. \u201cThere was a lot of good information. There was something there for everyone. Every Veteran has earned something, and everything was there for them. I learned about the VA home loan and I\u2019m planning to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/New-England-VEAC-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Three men having a conversation at the New England Veteran Experience Action Center.\" class=\"wp-image-139105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/New-England-VEAC-3.jpg,233 350w, https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/New-England-VEAC-3-1.jpg 624w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Army Veteran Stenard Ross, left, chats with Vincent Ng, Director of VA Boston Health Care System, and Cory Ahonen, Assistant Secretary for engagement and outreach for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services, during the New England VEAC at Gillette Stadium on March 11, 2025.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Retiring as an E-7, Ross said he used the Post-9\/11 G.I. Bill at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston where he earned a degree in business. He\u2019s used VA health care since he got out of the military and is no stranger to VA benefits and services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are just tons of people who were able to help me at this event,\u201d said Veteran Donald Gale. \u201cThey reconstructed my medical and military records. They\u2019re now completed and part of the VA system because of the help I received here. I\u2019m so thankful because it\u2019s like a completion of my life. I spent so much time in the military, but it didn\u2019t look like it was recognized. Because of the people at this event, I\u2019m confident it is now. I can\u2019t thank everybody enough for helping me do something that\u2019s probably 10 years to try to do, and it was completed in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VA is hosting these one-on-one events across the country, working with community partners and directly inviting eligible Veterans and their families to attend.<\/p>\n<p>Find an event to attend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/outreach-and-events\/events\/\">online<\/a> or visit https:\/\/www.va.gov\/outreach-and-events\/events\/.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Mary Pederson came in to work on March 11, she didn\u2019t expect her life to change. Pederson is a guest services associate at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL\u2019s New England Patriots. But that day, the stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was the site for hundreds of Veterans and their families attending the New England [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":393917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,1498,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vetresources","category-veteran-experience-action-center","category-vets-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393915"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393921,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393915\/revisions\/393921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/393917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}