August 8, 2022
Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com
Area veterans can enjoy a day of fellowship and learn about a wide variety of veteran-specific resources during a great event this weekend.
Vet Fest will take place this Saturday from noon to 4pm at the Fowlerville Fairgrounds. Vet Fest is a free event for all active duty, retired or military veteran families.
It’s family-oriented, and family members of veterans can enjoy food trucks, bounce houses, live bands, backpack and school supply giveaways, celebrity appearances and more. All veterans in attendance will also be entered into drawings to win a variety of prizes valued between $300 and $2,000.
Vet Fest aims to bring veterans together to enjoy camaraderie and connect them with the military benefits they earned through their service. Created by veteran non-profit VETLIFE, it brings the veteran community what it calls the state’s largest free veteran event.
VETLIFE co-founder Joshua Parish tells WHMI that the main goal of the event is to connect veterans with their benefits, noting that Michigan is home to nearly 600,000 veterans, but in 2019 less than 12 percent were connected to a federal benefit. He says these include things like VA home loans, VA health care, potential disability compensation, educational assistance, burial benefits and emergency assistance.
The parish says most veterans have no idea where to go to access potential benefits. While it’s great that they have all the activities and prizes at Vet Fest, Parish says what he’s most proud of are all the approved resource providers at the event. He says they personally screen every organization that will attend, adding that unfortunately there are many organizations in Michigan that take advantage of veterans and he “sees it every day.”
Registration is required for the event and veterans will be asked to show their designated military ID upon entry.
You will find more information and a link to register in the attached release.
