The Veterans Life Center, a planned residential facility for 21st century veterans experiencing problems reintegrating to civilian life, has been awarded a $582,200 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it was announced today.
Construction of the VLC’s SECU Veterans Residence Building is nearing completion in Butner, NC, and is expected to open in the Spring of 2020. At full capacity, it will house approximately 100 male and female veterans and coordinate a battery of services including mental, behavioral and physical health therapy, life skills training, spiritual and family counseling and vocational education.
“This is a wonderful and much-needed program,” said USDA State Director, Robert Hosford, “and because it is located in rural Granville County, we feel it is our responsibility, under our Community Facilities Grant Program and our commitment to rural development.
“The young heroes who will be served by the Veterans Life Center deserve every assistance we can give them, and we are proud to be able to help,” he added.
“We are extremely grateful to the USDA for their support of the VLC,” said John Turner, the Iraqi war veteran who founded the Veterans Life Center and now serves as its Senior Advisor. “On behalf of the men and women we will serve, I want to express our deepest thanks. This grant will help us help them to find a constructive and personally satisfying role in civil society.”
BGen (Ret) Thomas A. Gorry, Executive Director of the VLC said the money would be used to furnish the residential rooms, offices and common areas of the facility, as well as to purchase vans which will be needed to transport residents to and from the medical facilities and educational institutions where they will receive much of the treatment and training they need.
