The Appalachian Veteran Fair is set for Wednesday, March 26 from 10am to 4pm.
David Miller spoke with Maria Whiston, from Warrior's Canvas, about the event.
Transcript:
David Miller: I'm David Miller, WETS-FM, and we're speaking with Maria Whiston, and she is representing a Veterans Fair that will be taking place at the Bristol Motor Speedway on March the 26th. It's called the Appalachian Veteran Fair. Maria, welcome to the show.
Maria Whiston: Ah, thank you for having us. Thank you.
David Miller: What is the Appalachian Veteran Fair all about?
Maria Whiston: Well, the Appalachian Veteran Fair is the largest veteran fair that we hold in this region where we bring together a variety of social groups, many of our departments and clinics from our local James H. Quillen Veterans Medical Center and a lot of other national level ones like DAV, VFW, Vietnam Veterans. We just have such a cluster of so many different groups that come together. Community services as well that offer, you know, whether it's information for hospice or living assistance, just so many different variety of needs that our veterans and their families have so that our veterans in all those respective state communities can come, and we welcome the community as well to come and meet other veterans in their community that can maybe offer some of their volunteer services and talent. We find that a lot of times, you know, being with the Warrior's Canvas Veterans Art Center, we are very familiar with the needs that many of our veterans have when we look at the respective area of mental health. So we have a lot of veterans that have to deal with PTSD and so many other traumas that they've experienced. And so a lot of these organizations like ourselves in different platforms, ours is art, social, a lot of other similar groups do the same thing with their respective areas like fishing and other areas, but we recognize that they need support. They need focus, and they need to engage. So there's a need for that this year. We've added some additional pieces, mobile units. We've got RAM offering dental services. That is a need that we know that our veterans need. Not everyone is purviewed to get dental care from the VA. Maybe they are not even registered with our local VA. So that is something we know that they need, and we brought that in. Readjustment counseling is another one, the counseling services. So we have Vet Center coming in with their mobile unit. A lot of our veterans and their families, um, don't get the medical plans that they need. They struggle financially. So we're bringing in Providence Medical Mobile Unit that is going to be offering free services as well, primarily in this case for that day, focused on primary care. They can extend that to specialty care that they'll be receiving, and they'll set that up with them. And they'll take care of them to make sure that they're seen for what they need. Sometimes it's as simple as just engaging with other veterans so that they know that they're not forgotten. They're going to have the VA coming in, and they're going to have a booth set up for the Vietnam Veterans pinning. Um, so they'll be available for them as well. So we try to be inclusive to all our veterans of all eras. They're all welcome. And we try to provide everything that we can fit into this space. We're also gonna have Second Harvest. We know that there's so many people that are struggling in today's time with the challenges of pay or employment or just their financial strains maybe that they might have. So we're going to have Second Harvest coming out providing food. There'll be two distro ones, one at ten another at one p.m. So we want to welcome all our vets and communities to come out and be sure to grab their food to take home with them.
David Miller: Now, this is all coming Wednesday, the 26th of March. Give me the times and, once again, the location at BMS.
Maria Whiston: Yes, sir. It is going to be in the South Building. It is an indoor event, but we'll have picnic tables set up inside so that if people, you know, once they buy their food, they can come back inside and sit down, enjoy some live music that's going to be provided by ETSU Bluegrass Bands. This is a free event for our veterans and their families to come in.
David Miller: Special thanks to our guest, Maria Whiston, with the Appalachian Veteran Fair, coming to Bristol Motor Speedway, March 26th, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Information at warriorscanvas.org. I'm David Miller, WETS.