Hamilton County Military, Veteran, Family Newsletter
Oct 16, 2023 Series 1, Vol 1
Hamilton County, Indiana Service Organization Commanders,
I hope this finds you all doing well and that we can hear back from you about some of the topics in this Hamilton County Newsletter. Not sure if I want to do this monthly, but you all can let me know your thoughts, please…..
Our Hamilton County Veteran Service Officer’s are getting things back under control since Lisa Charles has departed the office. With the help of our District VSO, Cambria Sparks, and our Assist Administrator Christina Ellis, Robin Wilson and Caroline Franz, our 2 CVSO’s, have been working long days to get the backlog taken care of and now they are ready to take all your calls and file your claims. Hopefully by mid November, we will have hired a new CVSO who will already be trained and well versed in filing claims and caring for our Military Veteran Community!! That gives us three full time CVSOs and an Administrative Assistant, who is also able to file claims!!
One thing that the Fishers American Legion asked was can they post the CVSO information in their Post for all to see and yes, you all should have the following posted in your Posts.
Hamilton County Veteran Service Officers (CVSO’s) – the office is open for your calls, visits and filing your claims
- Assistant Director of Administration – Dianna Lynch
- CVSO – Robin Wilson
- CVSO – Caroline Franz
- Administrative Assistant – Christina Ellis
- 1 Hamilton County Square Suite 179
Noblesville, Indiana 46060
Main CVSO Office number 317-776-9610 M-F 9am-4pm and speak with Caroline Franz
Fax 317-776-8525
As the Hamilton County Veterans Corp has been traveling around to all your Posts delivering the suicide prevention kits, we were talking with Commanders, members and bar tenders about many things. One was marketing your Posts to your community to gain memberships, not just the Veteran community but the public as well. I believe all your establishments are open to the public and are non-smoking or headed in that direction, and you wish you could get more folks in to help keep your doors open and pay your bills. Doing this requires one to reach out and market themselves to let everyone know what good you do for the community, how you help our Military, Veterans and families, what activities your post has open for all to attend, and what needs your Post may have to keep paying your bills. To get access to this help, we need to let our community know ‘what’s in it for me’….. To do this, we all need an online presence. In today’s world, our new younger Veterans and community are better connected to social media than we older Veterans are so we need to change…. I see that the Carmel & Noblesville American Legions have both a functioning up to date current website as well as a Facebook page. I know the Fishers American Legion has a Facebook page and is working on a web page, the Carmel & Noblesville VFW’s and Sheridan & Cicero Legions have a Facebook presence for their communities to connect with. Important topics for a member or community member to know about your Post are:
- What are the activities this week at my Post – there should be a monthly calendar for all to see
- Who are my Officers and how do I reach them
- Is there a direct line to my Service Officer if I need help
- What is the Menu and the hours of service
- List the games being played, times and dates
- What are the special interests in our community and are there any charities we are helping
- A feedback page
- If there are any issues at the post, it needs to be open to the members and community so we all may help
A website must be alive with current information that is updated 2-3 times a week…. Think outside the box. Look at other Post’s websites around the country to get ideas. Pictures of the great times in your Post is a great way to show the updates and improvements you all have made over the years to make it more inviting to our newer, younger Veterans.
The Hamilton County Veterans Corp is here to assist you until you have a website up as we have a page on our website that is specific to all Service Organizations – https://www.hamiltoncountyveterans.com/hamilton-county-veteran-service-organizations-their-social-calendars/
This page already has your Posts listed with links to your existing website and your Facebook page. We have your address, the dates and times for your member meetings and your Commanders name. Please get back to us with any updates to this information and if you have a calendar that you want us to post on our page for you, send it to Bill Doss at [email protected] and I will update our site with your info monthly!! I am always updating our pages as we have 37 pages of links to all things Veteran related – you should have our link listed on your page as well!! Again, we are here to help you reach your community.
As you all should know we are also members on the Hamilton County Stronger Veterans Stronger Communities Coalition to eliminate suicide. Well, Hamilton County will be the first county in Indiana to launch the Governor’s Challenge, Ask the Question and the IDVA QR Code to help our Military Veteran community get the benefits they all deserve. We are meeting Tuesday, Oct 17th, with the IDVA to start planning the implementation process in Hamilton County. This process will include working with and through our American Legions & VFW’s so we hope to be setting up a meeting with you all very soon. Time and place to be determined, could be at a neutral location with food if I can pull it off. If you all have any thoughts please let us know….
October 19th at 10am we attend the Joining Community Forces Indiana Zoom meeting that Buzz Smith runs from Easterseals Crossroads. It’s the largest networking event for Military Veteran resources in central Indiana. If any officers are interested in joining these it happens monthly on the third Thursday at 10am. Contact me for info on how to connect.
October 26-27 is the Battlemind to Home Summit at the Embassy Suites in Noblesville. Probably too late to sign up and attend but the Hamilton County Veterans Corp will be there attending some workshops as well as being on the exhibitor floor meeting our local Military Veteran community and letting them know of our great Service Organizations!!
October 26 at 12pm is the Stronger Veterans Stronger Communities Coalition meeting at the Carmel VFW or on Meetings online. It’s the fourth Thursday of the month. Let me know if anyone is interested in helping us save lives here in Hamilton County.
November 1 at noon we will be at the Noblesville Township Community Center from 1-4pm helping the DAR and Jill Fewell presenting the Free Vietnam Veteran Gift – A Time To Honor – to our local Heroes. If you would like to attend, let me know and we will get in touch with Shirley to let her know.
November 6 at 6pm is the Hamilton County Veterans Corp meeting at the Fishers American Legion and you are all welcome to attend!! We will know more about the Gov Challenge by then to share with you and I hope to have our VSO’s there as well as Paul Phelps from MASH Ministries in Westfield.
July 13, 2024 – Hamilton County Military Veteran Resource Fair is back!! We expect all Posts to be present this next year as we had 55 tables of resources last year plus three rooms used by the VA filing claims (65 that day alone) signing up new Veterans in the system and doing toxic screens. 2023 was great but 2024 will be greater!!
We hope you all find this very informative, helpful and can better understand who the Hamilton County Veterans Corp is (we’ve only been here for 20 years), what we do and how we can assist you all in moving into the future caring for our Military Veteran community.
Hope to hear from you soon to get your input on how we can work together.
Sincerely,
Bill Doss