The Volunteers of Legal Service Veterans Initiative joins our community in celebrating Veterans Day 2020. Through our ongoing provision of free legal services to under-resourced veterans made possible by our community partners and pro bono volunteers, we are proud to serve those who have served us.
World War I ended on November 11th, 1918, and America dubbed that date “Armistice Day” in 1921, making it a national holiday in 1938. Despite the country’s hopes, WWI was not “the war to end all wars”, and in 1947, the date became known instead as Veterans Day – a day to honor all veterans. By then, a second World War had come and gone, with additional wars on the horizon in the decades to come.
SUPPORT VOLS’ YEAR-END CAMPAIGN In the last year, VOLS’ free legal services directly benefited 5,384 low-income New Yorkers. Through the pandemic and beyond, our work is made possible through generous voluntary and financial contributions from friends across our community. Please make a year-end donation to VOLS today: click here. |
The Impact of the Pandemic on Veterans
This year’s observance of Veterans Day is marked by the pandemic – a battle on our home turf. As of November 3rd, 2020, the VA reported that we have lost over 4,000 veterans to Coronavirus at VA facilities, and more than 77,000 infections have been reported at VA facilities. These numbers only include veterans that have died or tested positive at VA facilities – so we know that these numbers are even higher overall. Among the dead are nearly 60 VA staff members.
Also among the dead are several of VOLS’ own clients. The Veterans Initiative mourns the loss of the veterans that we have had the honor to serve. Our support and strength go out their families, caretakers, and friends. Our endless gratitude goes out to those we have lost.
The statistics around the impact of Coronavirus on veterans paint a picture that reinforces the importance of the work that VOLS’ Veterans Initiative does on behalf of veterans all year long. For example, the VA reports a mortality rate of more than 5.5% for veterans with Coronavirus — this is approximately twice the overall American mortality rate. Not surprisingly, American veterans tend to be older and less healthy than the rest of the population. In New York State, about half of the entire population of over 800,000 veterans are age 65 or older. According to the CDC, 8 out of every 10 Coronavirus deaths happen to folks in this same age bracket. The pandemic has hit communities of color particularly hard, and veterans are no exception – overall, Black and Hispanic veterans are twice as likely as white veterans to test positive for Coronavirus at the VA. While the disease is still being studied, we also now know that folks who survive can experience long-lasting symptoms that impair their ability to function in society, including severe fatigue and respiratory problems and other conditions that can make it difficult or impossible for folks to live their lives as they were before they got sick.
The Need for Life Planning Documents is Urgent
Each of the life planning documents that VOLS provides to older veterans are meant to protect their legal, financial, and health care related decisions in the event that they become incapacitated or worse. Unfortunately, this pandemic has made those prospects more realistic than before, and has made the need for our services more urgent.
VOLS was providing life planning documents and services to older veterans long before the pandemic, and the Veterans Initiative – launched in September 2019 just months before the pandemic hit – continues to do so in the midst of serious logistical complications presented by the surrounding circumstances. We have adapted our services to enable us to continue to remotely provide Last Wills & Testaments, Powers of Attorney, and other advance directives to under-resourced veterans, free of charge. Whereas before the pandemic, we met with veterans in-person in their homes, at their local senior centers, or at the VA hospital, we are now doing so virtually or by phone. Our staff and volunteers are trained in the “art” of virtual document execution, and in assisting individuals without technological capacity to properly execute their documents outside of the presence of an attorney. The Veterans Initiative puts our clients and their safety first.
We recognize the urgent need for life planning and continue to educate NYC’s older veterans about the importance of planning for the future, come what may. As part of our pivot to remote services, we have ramped-up our online presentations to the public and to other service providers to connect older veterans with the services that we provide. This shift to remote outreach has allowed us to expand our services to all NYC boroughs, which enables us to increase our impact, especially in communities of color where older veterans have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, and to reach folks who were unaware of our services prior to the pandemic.
Community Education
On November 5th and 6th, we presented to and conducted intakes with veterans seeking our services, alongside several other legal service providers as part of Fordham Law’s Feerick Center Veterans Rights Project Virtual Veterans Day Clinic. November 13th, we will be presenting to Brooklyn-based vets as part of the Bay Ridge Heroes series. On November 16th, we will be presenting as part of an event hosted by the New York City Veterans Alliance. On November 19th, we will host a training for the social work staff at all NYC VA facilities. Also on November 19th, we will present about on housing laws impacting veterans as part of Albany Law School’s Veterans Rights Pro Bono Project November series. We invite you to reach out to us for more information about these presentations or to schedule a presentation in partnership with your organization.
Our Advocacy Work
Additionally, as our work on behalf of older veterans is not limited to the direct provision of services, we recently submitted a Public Comment in opposition to proposed VA regulations that would make it more difficult for veterans to obtain service-connected disability benefits. (link to PC once written) We feel strongly that benefits should be made more accessible, not less-so, especially as our veterans fight through and recover from an unprecedented economic downturn. We also continue to participate in the NYC Veterans Law Working Group, as part of a small community of legal service providers focused on under-resourced veterans in NYC. You can read a statement our working group submitted to New York’s Permanent Commission on Access to Justice in support of increased screening for prior military service in the provision of free legal services here. In July, we submitted a letter to Governor Cuomo in support of NY Legislative Bill S39231, which would make it easier for all New Yorkers to obtain a Power of Attorney – a document whose importance cannot be understated in the face of the pandemic. You can read our letter here. We also recently updated and re-released our Guide for Friends & Family of Recently Deceased New Yorkers to help folks navigate the post-death landscape when they lose the ones they love. Additionally, on October 19th, 2020, we testified before the New York City Council Committee on Veterans about the unique legal issues our city’s veterans are facing during the pandemic – that testimony can be accessed here.
Honoring Veterans and Those that Care for Them
Abraham Lincoln once called on us to “Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.” The Veterans Initiative lifts up not only the service of our veterans, but the service of their families and friends, caretakers, social workers, and medical professionals, without whom we could not do this work. We also lift up the service of our many skilled pro bono attorneys and honor the sacrifice of the time and effort they dedicate to providing high-quality free legal services to under-resourced older veterans in NYC. You can read more about just a few of these incredible people here.
VOLS’ Veterans Initiative is again, as always, proud to serve those who have served us. Happy Veterans Day to you and yours.
Best,
Peter Kempner & Jess Penkoff
VOLS Veterans Initiative