Veteran Village: community has opportunity to learn the truth behind the dream

The Veterans Village project and Vulcan Collision & Coatings in Sheridan, will offer residents and visitors an opportunity to enjoy vintage and muscle cars and take part in a poker-run while learning more about Veteran Village. 

Veterans Village interim Executive Director Kristen Marcus and board president Jeff Young told listeners of Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse the vision of the Veteran Village. 

K. Marcus/J. Young  

Young owns and operates a farm. From this location he has helped many local veterans through the simple act of caring and listening. Young –a combat veteran himself– knows and understands the feelings of isolation and losing a lifelong purpose that many veterans feel once they have been released from service in the military. 

  J. Young

Marcus and the Veteran Village board hopes to one day include counseling services, volunteer opportunities to help reintegrate vets into the community as well as job training and placement opportunities. With the 50 units in close proximity, veterans will be able to live as they trained, ensuring that their fellow vets are making appointments, having outlets close by to talk and taking care of each other. This dream of a small but impactful community of fellow veterans intends to meet the basic needs of vets so they can address their issues and begin to not only save but rebuild their lives. 

K. Marcus 

The list of difficulties and roadblocks has been long for Marcus and her team. Marcus is once again acting as the Executive Director as the organization actively searches for a replacement. Finding a suitable location for the Veterans Village has been one of the highest hurdles. Young has again stepped up to help his brothers and sisters in arms and donated a plot of land to not only prove the concept of Veterans Village as a lifesaving measure for those who sacrificed so much for their country but to help those veterans as soon as possible.

K. Marcus  

To help in this effort, Vulcan Collision & Coatings in Sheridan will hold a poker-run and car show at the Sheridan County Fairgrounds to help raise funds on Aug.17.

K. Marcus  

According to the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, in 2021, there were 6,392 veteran suicide deaths. This was 114 more than in 2020, making suicide the second-leading cause of death among veterans under 45-years-old.