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VetFest bring services to Wild Things Park

2 min read
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Iraq War veteran John Corl said he bounced around homeless shelters until he sought services from the Wounded Warrior Project in Pittsburgh.

The Green Tree man said getting help for his service-related issues brought him to the point where he’s now ready to enroll in college and gain employment.

“Wounded Warrior helped me,” Corl said Saturday at VetFest at Wild Things Park in North Franklin Township.

He said veterans services “got me back on my feet.”

VetFest, a project of Wounded Warrior, brought numerous vendors that offer services to veterans Saturday to Washington County because it is a midway point between Pittsburgh and Wheeling and Morgantown in West Virginia, said Shawn Seguin, an outreach specialist with the project.

“It’s an amazing location, Seguin said. “This area loves veterans. They treat them right.”

He said about 300 people were expected to visit the festival, where a band performed and vendors reached out to veterans with services ranging from suicide prevention to employers that are hiring.

Representatives from the Veterans Affairs’ new outpatient clinic in Washington were there to guide people to local health care so they don’t have to find transportation to Pittsburgh.

“We’ve had quite a few people,” said Maureen Griffin, a social worker at the clinic at 95 W. Beau St.

Veterans who are enrolled in the VA can receive a wide range of services in Washington, including suicide prevention, post-traumatic stress treatment and physical examinations.

Saturday’s event also included classes where veterans were taught how to prepare résumés and “sell yourself to a company,” Seguin said.

He said Pennsylvania has the third highest number of veterans of the National Guard in the nation, and many of them need housing or mental health services.

“We went big,” he said.

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