Lake Charles is on a mission to make sure no veteran gets left behind.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday the inaugural Lake Charles Veterans Outreach Event is being hosted at the Lake Charles Event Center, 900 Lakeshore Drive. The event is sponsored by the Lake Charles Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission and Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs.

At the outreach event, 77 vendors — including 12 to 15 Veterans Affairs-related programs — will be set up to create a central location for veteran organizations to exchange information with veterans and their families.

Kelly Miseles, vice president of the Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission, said there will be services from VA programs, veteran service organizations, mental health counseling, health screenings, financial and job assistance programs, Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) and homeless services.

The Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission is a liaison between the veteran community and the city government, and their goal with the outreach event is to create an “information hub” for veterans, their families and service organizations, he said.    

Many veterans face roadblocks when accessing resources because the different organizations are spread out, and the different processes can be confusing. The outreach event will make resources concisely accessible to every veteran who stops by.

“The idea is that we can at least once a year have all these service organizations in the same space,” he explained. “You go there and you could potentially get directed right where you need to go to get your service.

“There’s just so much that people don’t know how to access and they don’t understand the process and the idea is they would go to this event and really no matter what, you’re going to walk out of there with at least the knowledge of how to address this concern that you have.”

Veteran ID cards will not be made at the event, Miseles said, but they hope to include that service in future events.

Attendees should bring their DD Form 214 (certificate of release or discharge from active duty) and identification.

The event is free and open to veterans and their families.

Veterans events

The city’s first Veteran’s Day event is at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov 8. Alongside the Daughters of the American Revolution, they will unveil the new Gerstner Field Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park. This memorial will honor the history of the World War I pilot training base in Lake Charles, where over 3,000 pilots received flight training.

At 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 11, the Lake Charles Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission will host the annual Veterans Day Celebration at Veterans Memorial Park. This year, the program will highlight female veterans and will feature CDR Elizabeth Newton, USCG Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles, who served in the Air Force for 21 years.

After the program, a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Louisiana Vietnam Veterans Memorial is planned. The memorial pays tributes to the 885 Louisiana Vietnam War casualties and will be the only official State of Louisiana Vietnam Veterans Memorial.