Stand Down puts veterans at ease

Aug. 22--Veterans Larry Vieira and Ron Bartlett sat at a picnic table taking in the spectacle that is the 20th annual Yuba-Sutter Veterans Stand Down.

Wednesday marked the first day of the three-day event at Beckwourth Riverfront Park in Marysville, which caters to all veterans and their families -- no matter how much help they need.

"A lot of people out there feel nervous about looking into services that might be available to them but when they come here and see all the other veterans, it puts them at ease," Vieira said. "It's important to be able to put your trust in someone who was in the military and knows the system."

Vieira, 71, of Yuba City, is a Navy Vietnam veteran who has been coming to the stand down for seven years, whereas Bartlett, 65, of Meridian, an Army veteran who served at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, was at the event for his second time.

"He drags me here every year," Bartlett, said with a laugh. "Everybody here is grounded in camaraderie and all these booths are great about helping veterans find the benefits that are available to them -- I didn't even know about that."

Susan Downing, with the Yuba-Sutter Veterans Stand Down, said the first part of day one went very smooth.

"The veteran's registration went quick and smooth -- we had a lot of happy campers and we had 14 volunteers helping with registration," she said. "This is the second year that we've been preregistering volunteers and having an orientation beforehand and that worked really well."

She said there are a total of 168 registered volunteers for the event and that's not counting other community members who helped and the 80 provider organizations who are part of the event.

Organizers reached out to people in Butte County in an effort to help veterans who are also Camp Fire survivors. Also, this year, there's a dedicated area for women veterans to get information.

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