Veterans Services

Veterans Services – Gardner MA

The City of Gardner Massachusetts has accomplished successes in Veterans Services, including, but not limited to:

GardnerMagazine.com spoke with Gardner MA Mayor Michael Nicholson about details on how Gardner offers veterans services, even forging agreements with other communities. Here’s what he told us:

Mayor Nicholson: Our new staff over in the Veterans Service Office, Because they’ve all changed within the past couple years. Have really been tremendous. You know, Phil Buso, who was our veterans agent since 2001, retired in 2021. And we thought, you know, he had left big shoes to fill. He had been here for forever. And then when Lynette Gabrella came on as our new director and we started talking about a regional veteran services office, she took it and she ran with it, and now we have veteran services for Gardner, Ashburnham, Westminster, Hubbardston and Princeton. And we’ve got a couple other communities that are interested in joining our district as well. And what it is that makes it so that people don’t fall through the cracks. Now what does Gardner get out of providing veteran services for Westminster, Ashburnham and all these other towns. Really its just a financial benefit for the city in the short term, because they do help compensate our staff members who are working with us. But the biggest thing that’s there is that there’s so many veterans in the area that in some of the small towns, where you can only afford an agent a couple hours a week, they fall through the cracks and they don’t understand what services they qualify for and earned. By putting on the uniform and serving our country that way, and by being in this type of a situation, we make sure that less and less of them fall through the cracks. This isn’t about money. This isn’t about how much we save and the veterans benefits we give out every year by getting more of them onto the VA system. This isn’t about how much were getting paid in a regional agreement. This is about making sure that someone who fought for us, who we may never know, is getting what they earned as their thank you. And thats the biggest thing that’s there. One of the things that were going to be launching shortly is a new veterans ID program, where someone can go visit the Veteran Services office and talk to Lynette or TAV or Cory, And, you know, sign up for this discount card, similar to the football discount cards that people see at different school districts. And when they fill out that information for that card, they also tell us, when did you serve. Do you know about this program that’s out there? Do you fit this criteria? And that’s how we can see if someone’s not getting advantage of some of the programs that they currently qualify for. And we can capture those people because they’re currently through the cracks, and we can bring them back, but also get them in a community sense, too, where they can go around to those different establishments in the city and see who would give a thank you for their service, be it through a discount here or through an extra program here or something like that. So it really is a symbiotic relationship that we have. Now, word must have gotten around that Gardner is doing something right with veteran services, or these other towns wouldn’t be interested in joining up with Gardner.

Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson stated specifically why Gardner is doing better than you might expect:

Mayor Nicholson: I think the biggest thing is we’re reaching out before people reach out to us. It’s something that again, people don’t know what they don’t know. And our expert should be the ones who do know. And by coming together in that way and really being the person to reach out there, you show people why they care. You show people you care and you show people why they shouldn’t be embarrassed to take a part of the programs that they’ve earned. Because that is some of it that plays into it that we see through some of the feedback that we get through some of those programs. But its what we do and its what they’ve earned. And its our thank you that we need, because well never be able to say thank you enough for everyone whos put the uniform on for us, for sure. And I got to give Lynette a shout out to our Director of Veterans Services. She was just invited by The Central Mass Grange organization to receive a quilt of honor, which is an award that the Grange gives out for all of her work that she’s been doing for the veterans in the region. And I believe later on this month or early next month, she will be receiving a citation from Governor Healey for the work that she has been doing as well, too. So were really lucky to have the all star team that we have here in City Hall