A message from the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services
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A Message from Major General Bill Libby
We served America once. It’s time to serve Her again. Maine’s veterans’ community is known for its strong leadership skills, and your expertise is needed now more than ever. We also understand the phrases “support and defend” and “service above self” based on our unique military experiences.
Therefore, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively affect our way of life in the State of Maine, your service is needed once again.
I am reaching out today to ask if you will accept this mission as 2020 winds down and we look towards the new year, which can be virus free if we work together to help stop the spread.
The Maine CDC recommends the following community mitigation actions to slow the virus:
1. Utilize personal protective measures including wearing face coverings and handwashing;
2. Maintain a social distance of six feet or more from others; and
3. Maintain environmental surface cleaning in your homes, workplaces, schools, and churches.
I encourage you to remain vigilant and to utilize these simple procedures to increase your protection from COVID-19. Based on the increasing infection/hospitalization numbers we have seen after the Thanksgiving holiday, limit your contacts during the Christmas period. I am a Christmas baby and this will be my first Christmas without my sons and their families being present. But as a family, we have made this decision to help ensure everyone’s safety.
Just as the military teaches teamwork under adverse conditions, we are asking you to rely on those skills to not only protect yourself and your family, but those in our communities who may need extra assistance or are particularly vulnerable due to pre-existing medical conditions.
It has become clear over the past few months that COVID-19 negatively affects our mental health as well. Conduct buddy checks not only with your friends, but with your spouse and children. The strain that social isolation is causing is noticeable, and if you find it is affecting you, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Support is available if you or someone you know needs it.
This call to arms is very real and your help is needed now more than ever to combat COVID-19 in Maine.
Please join me in adhering to CDC guidelines as we enjoy the holiday season. It’s up to all of us to band together as a community and do our part.
For Veterans in crisis or those who are concerned, help is available at the Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255, and press 1, or text 838255, or chat www.VeteransCrisisLine.net.
To learn more about available resources for Veterans and their families, please contact the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services at 207-430-6035 or visit their website www.maine.gov/veterans.
Information about Maine’s five (5) Vet Centers can be found on the VA’s website https://www.maine.va.gov/visitors/VetCenters.asp
If interested in learning more about suicide prevention, please contact VA Maine Healthcare System Suicide Prevention Coordinator Tracy Charette at 207-623-8411 ext. 5017.
Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services Begins Implementation of Veterans’ Homelessness Prevention Coordination Program
The Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services (MBVS) is pleased to announce that funding is now available to temporarily house homeless veterans in need of assistance. The newly available funds will be granted based on an application process, and will be in accordance with rules established pursuant to 37-B M.R.S. §513-A, enacted by P.L. 2019, chapter 504.
The program was created to provide assistance for Maine veterans experiencing homelessness or who are on the brink of homelessness, and will provide payment to human services-based volunteer organizations that provide transitional housing to homeless veterans. MBVS will not reimburse expenses accrued prior to approval of an organization’s application and will notify all approved applicants of the status of available funds regularly and upon request.
To qualify for funding, a provider must comply with the following:
1. Be a non-profit corporation in good standing in the State of Maine and qualified for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or be a municipal corporation;
2. Be a provider of homeless services who has been active in the State for at least (2) years providing emergency housing, street outreach, homeless prevention, or rapid re‑housing services;
3. Be a human service-based Volunteer Organization that has as one of their core programs addressing homelessness and veterans' services. In compliance with 37-B M.R.S §513-A, the Bureau must give priority to an organization founded, chartered or organized in the state; and
4. Have the administrative and financial management capacity necessary to administer and to account for the use of the applicable funds in accordance with the Bureau's invoicing requirements.
Applicants should carefully review the eligibility criteria outlined in the established rules to determine if their organization qualifies to apply for the program.
Applications can be obtained by contacting the Maine Bureau of Veterans Services at 207-430-6035 or visiting their website at www.maine.gov/veterans.
In addition to those established rules above, if a Maine veteran is in need of shelter in a region of the state that has no qualifying provider, the MBVS Homeless Veterans Coordination Team can work to connect the veteran with shelter and other resources.
For this assistance, please call 207-430-6035 or email mainebvs@maine.gov.
Mobile Homeless Veteran Stand Downs Connect Veterans With Needed Resources
Throughout the months of November and December, the Maine Bureau of Veterans' Services held four homeless veteran stand downs in Bangor, Lewiston, Portland, and Sanford.
The stand downs were co-hosted by our community partners who assisted in providing food, winter gear, warm clothing, and connection to resources. Those partners included:
Bangor Vet Center
Lewiston Vet Center
Sanford Vet Center
Portland Maine Vet Center
Maine Veterans in Need
Maine Elks Association
Operation Brotherhood
Easterseals Maine
Preble Street
Veterans Inc.
Maine Department of Labor
(Maine Career Centers)
Maine Department of Transportation
222 Cares
VA Maine Healthcare System
Rolling Thunder
Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW
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