Minnesota Veterans State Office in Ortonville

By: Dan Meyer

The office hours for the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office are 7:30 am – 4:00 pm Monday through Friday. My office phone number is (320) 839-6398.

It’s official!!!!! The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs will be visiting the office.

The visitors will be Mr. Ron Quade (VA Director of Claims), Anna Long (VA Director of Communications), and possibly Sarah Graves (VA Communications Department) from the St. Paul Regional Office.

Why are VA Representatives coming out to the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office to do an assist visit? They will be doing a MNDVA Newsletter Article on the increased number of veterans who utilize our office, the positive impact on our local veterans, and the outreach efforts to our veterans. Together, we are changing the atmosphere with respect to assisting our veterans and their families, and the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs is taking notice.

In addition, VA Representatives will be interviewing several of our local veterans concerning their newly granted service-connected claim(s).

Here is an example. As of November 1, 2010, there has been 133 veteran disability compensation claims granted/approved since November 1, 2009. Of those, 92 have been veterans who live right here in Big Stone County. I hope you as proud of these numbers as I am. Working together, our community and the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office will continue to serve our veterans and their families in a proud and professional manner that they deserve.

The upcoming article will published in the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Monthly Newsletter. The article can be found on the internet be just typing in Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, then selecting the “monthly newsletter.”

By utilizing the $9,000 in grant Outreach Program dollars provided by the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs this past year, the results are truly being felt by of veterans and their families. On Monday the 25th of last month, there were 16 veterans who had scheduled and non-scheduled office appointments. A very busy, but truly great day for our veterans!!!!

Please congratulate yourselves on a job well done! I greatly appreciated all those who support YOUR Big Stone County Veterans Service Office.

I want to take this time to thank our Big Stone County Commissioners for hiring me and giving me the opportunity to work for our Big Stone County veterans and their families.

Until next week, take care and “Fair Winds and Following Seas!”