Budget cuts have led to a halt for some local veteran support grants, resulting in various responses from volunteers and leaders.
Veterans gathered in Groton Friday to voice their frustration with service cuts, this time because of a funding freeze at Americorps.
Americorps provides aid to community organizations that help veterans.
The Thames Valley Conference for Community Action said it learned last week that Americorps froze its $200,000 grant.
“I'm just too, too emotional for all this, but it's very heartbreaking,” volunteer Neero Aaro said during an event at the Groton Senior Center.
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Rep. Joe Courtney (D-2nd District) told a group of veterans that he and other lawmakers would push the Trump administration to release the funding.
“People care about their veterans on a bipartisan basis, all across the country, and they want to see them get the help that they earned,” Courtney said.
TVCCA leaders said they were told to prepare to end their veterans programming by May.
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Brian Burridge, a veterans representative with East Lyme, said the funding helps coordinate volunteers and provide a range of support.
TVCCA hosts regular coffee houses to bring veterans together and share information. The group also has volunteers help veterans with shopping, doctors appointments and other daily needs.
Some even visit veterans who have no family or friends in the area.
“They desire the company of somebody to say, ‘Hey, I hear you, I respect you, I want to hear your story,'” Burridge said.
The Americorps freeze comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs, a different agency, is also laying off about 80,000 workers.
In a video posted on social media earlier this month, VA Secretary Doug Collins said the cuts are meant to make the agency more efficient.
The VA has a history of waitlists and other problems.
“The VA has been a punching bag among veterans, Congress and the media for decades, things need to change,” Collins said in the video.
Courtney said Friday the cuts will only make things worse.
Connecticut’s state Department of Veteran Affairs has a list of municipal representatives to help veterans access services.
