BRYAN, Texas — Tom and Susan Marty have worked at the American Legion Post 159 in Bryan for years. They've assisted veterans in numerous capacities. On Oct. 7, the couple is putting on a resource fair for veterans to get access to health, financial and legal services from organizations across the Brazos Valley.
“We’re going to have a bunch of tables with different organizations, government offices, businesses who are providing assistance to veterans," said Susan Marty.
Prior to the pandemic, the Martys said that this event was an annual occurrence that drew in a large crowd. However, this stopped when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many events to be canceled.
"We had done this for about four years and then the plans halted because of COVID and it was very hard to get traction on it again, so we're just very excited to bring this back, making this an annual event here in the community," said Susan Marty said.
One of the largest struggles facing veterans is the risk of suicide. Tom Marty mentioned that there has been a dramatic growth in the number of veterans who have committed suicide for different reasons.
“We’re losing way too many veterans to suicide these days. A lot of it has to do with PTSD," Tom Marty said.
While their event and the American Legion do a lot for the veteran community in the Brazos Valley, the Martys admit there's still a lot more work to do to ensure that veterans are properly cared for and supported in the future.
“I don’t think there’s ever enough resources to help veterans with everything that’s going on in their lives," said Tom Marty.
More from KAGS: