Veterans will help veterans next weekend during the Yuba-Sutter Stand Down in Marysville’s Beckwourth Riverfront Park.

Starting Aug. 24 at noon, veterans who are down on their luck will be able to obtain free meals and get information on benefits, medical care and legal assistance, plus mental health counseling. During last year’s event, an estimated 130 to 150 veterans took part.

But to Air Force veteran Chuck Carver, one of the Stand Down organizers, success takes only one person. He said that last year, a man came in from the nearby riverbottoms and sought help at the event.

He was able to get the information he needed to get back on his feet and get accepted into the military benefit system. He’s changed his life around, Carver said.

“Too many veterans don’t know what they have coming to them,” he said. “We give them the information to get them going in the right direction.”

The location of the event is important to pull out some of the veterans who fell off the map and into the riverbottoms, Carver said.

Most of the services provided will be available throughout the weekend. Dental care will only be available Saturday.

While services focus on homeless veterans, all veterans are welcome to come and get more information about their benefits.

“It’s what you deserve and what you’ve got coming to you,” Carver said.

The only thing needed is discharge papers as proof of being a veteran. There will be help available at the event to help people find those papers, which is DD Form 214.

Read more: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/veterans-52696-information-down.html#ixzz1sMr6ceRk