On Saturday, the Veterans Land Board (VLB) debuted its new VLB Mobile Benefits Center at the VLB Veterans Benefits Fair in San Antonio. This new state-of-the-art RV will travel across Texas helping the VLB staff spread the word to Texas veterans about the benefits and services they earned by serving their country. The Mobile Office will not only be a billboard on wheels, but also a fully functional VLB office equipped with Wi-Fi to enable VLB staff to have real time communications with the home office to better serve Texas veterans.
"One of the great privileges of serving as Land Commissioner is helping take care of our veterans and their families, but we can only help if veterans are informed of the benefits they've earned," said Commissioner Bush. "Every day, in ways large and small, our VLB team provides help and hope to our heroes - and the new VLB Mobile Benefits Center will help us to amplify our statewide outreach efforts. We hope to spread the word so that each veteran in Texas is aware of, and knows how to get help accessing, the federal and state benefits and services they've earned."
Among the services the VLB Mobile Benefits Center will provide is information and help applying for low interest land, home and home improvement loans. Since the unit is Wi-Fi enabled, staff will be able to meet with veterans one-on-one, help them fill out the necessary paperwork, and apply for one of the loans on the spot. Staff will also be able to provide veterans and loved ones with information about VLB Texas State Veterans Homes and Cemeteries. The VLB Mobile Benefits Center is ADA compliant and fully wheelchair accessible to be able to comfortably accommodate all veterans and their families.
The Mobile Benefits Center will not only travel to all annually scheduled VLB Benefits Fairs, but also visit additional towns across Texas. The VLB team will take the Mobile Benefits Center to special events like the Armed Forces Bowl and various sporting events across Texas. In the event of a natural or other disasters, the VLB can load up and be onsite to provide assistance to veterans seeking services. The VLB also seeks to attend various other non-VLB sponsored veteran events throughout Texas. Veterans organizations across Texas are encouraged to call the VLB Call Center at 1-800-252-VETS (8387) if they know of local veteran events and to schedule a visit from the VLB's Mobile Benefits Center.
The VLB team is scheduling Mobile Benefits Center across the state. Here is a list of confirmed events:
- May 20 th Air Hogs Military Appreciation Day (Grand Prairie)
- May 13 th - Bastrop County Veterans Benefits Fair (Elgin)
- May 27 th Heroes Night Out Annual Military Appreciation BBQ (Georgetown)
- June 14-18 - Texas VFW State Convention (Houston)
- June 3 - VLB Benefits Fair (Dallas)
- July 15 - VLB Benefits Fair (Waco)
- August 5 - VLB Benefits Fair (Tomball)
- Sept. 29 th - Oct. 22 nd Texas State Fair (Dallas)
For more information on the Veterans Land Board, please call 1-800-252-VETS (8387) or visit TexasVeterans.com. You can also follow the VLB on Facebook at Facebook.com/TXVLB, or Twitter Twitter.com/TexasVLB, or YouTube Youtube.com/TexasVLB, or Instagram Instagram.com/TexasVeterans/, or the Texas Veterans Blog at TexasVeteransBlog.com/.
About the Texas Veterans Land Board
The cornerstone of benefits for veterans in Texas is the VLB's ability to offer below-market interest rate loans for land and home purchases, and home improvements. The VLB operates eight Texas State Veterans Homes that serve more than a thousand veterans and their families needing long-term, high-quality care. The VLB also provides free burial of veterans with full military honors at Texas State Veterans Cemeteries in Abilene, Corpus Christi, Killeen and Mission. To qualify for VLB benefits, veterans must be honorably discharged, have served at least 90 days on active duty and live in Texas.
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