Oregon’s Veteran Service Offices

Yamhill County’s VSO

Meet some Oregon vets and learn how their local Yamhill County VSO helps connect them to their earned benefits.

Yamhill County VSOA common challenge for veterans is connecting to the benefits available to them after completing their military service. Assistance is available for pensions, housing, education, medical care and more; unfortunately, only about 30% of veterans take advantage of their earned benefits. This is where Veteran Services Offices (VSOs) come in. These county-based offices help veterans navigate the sometimes complex process of obtaining the benefits they earned by serving their country. In 2019, the Yamhill County VSO received $130,135 in Oregon Lottery funds to help carry out this important mission.

Oregon is unique in its support of veteran services. In 2016, voters directed 1.5% of all Oregon Lottery proceeds to support services for those who stood to protect us, our military veterans. Providing these funds to help operate and staff VSOs is just one way Oregonians thank our veterans for their service.

Lead Veteran Service Officer Jerry Wilson

Veteran Service Officer

The Yamhill VSO Gets Creative

As Lead Veteran Service Officer, Jerry realized that local merchants are often willing to provide discounts to veterans. But how do they know a customer actually qualifies?

Some merchants simply take the customer’s word; others required copies of discharge documents. It was a sometimes messy system.

Jerry saw an opportunity to streamline the process for both merchants and veterans. The VSO started a program so vets could file their papers with the county office and receive a convenient ID card to carry with them. And participating merchants received posters to display their participation.

What started as a problem for local veterans turned into a win-win for both the vets and the community — a perfect example of just one way VSOs serve Oregon veterans!

LOTTERY DOLLARS DOING GOOD THINGS IN YOUR COMMUNITY