Dubois County Commissioners and Local Veterans Keep VSO Operating, Seek Permanent Hire

Volunteer veterans have signed agreements to staff the Dubois County Veterans Service Office on the side of the Dubois County Annex at the intersection of Sixth and Main streets, ensuring the office stays open after the prior Veterans Service Officer departed two weeks before the March 2 commissioners meeting. While volunteers cover front-line duties, Snyder is overseeing daily operations, and commissioners on March 2 discussed an interim staffing arrangement and a strengthened hiring process for the county’s VSO position.

Commissioners told attendees they will conduct preliminary phone interviews mid-week and then schedule in-person interviews with top candidates, and at least two of the volunteering veterans will participate in evaluating candidates’ technical knowledge and experience. The volunteers have said they will continue serving until the county hires a permanent replacement, and the signed agreements explicitly clarify the volunteers’ non-employee status.

The Veterans Service Office remains open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., serving hundreds of veterans with assistance for federal and state benefits, employment support, medical appointments and peer connections. Veterans seeking help can call the office at 812-481-7090 for services while the county moves through the hiring process.

Since taking on a new role in the office, the person identified only by the surname Love has removed a reflective covering from the front door to "open the office up to the outside world," ordered a flag that reads "Veterans Welcome," and begun building relationships with area veterans organizations. Love plans to work with local employers to meet veterans at lunch hours and described immediate casework, saying, "I was able to get him started on some benefits," about a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient who served 50 years ago and had never applied for benefits. Love added, "Being a recruiter, I am familiar with the system," and the reporting notes he spent more than a decade recruiting and retaining soldiers for the Army National Guard and has driven veterans to Indianapolis or walked them through difficult paperwork when needed.

Commissioners heard data showing Dubois County had 2,186 veterans in 2024, down from 2,481 in 2016, and that total direct and indirect expenditures for veteran benefits reached $23,613,890 in 2026, including disability payments, pensions and medical services. At the meeting, Blessinger emphasized the purpose of those benefits, saying, "These aren't handouts. These are things that are earned."

Community groups continue to bolster county services: the DuBois Area Honor Guard blanket project, begun around 2013 by Sharon Wantuck and her sister Linda Maddox, has produced more than 2,000 service-branch blankets over the past decade and assembles them at the DuBois American Legion with volunteers including Sherry Heberling, John Hibner, Chuck Strouse, Kathy Hibner and Lori Strouse. Wantuck said, "The nursing home just kind of keeps track of what they need and when they get down to three of each, we ask them to please contact us so we have time to put them together." Separately, Dubois County plans to participate in Operation Green Light for Veterans from November 7 to 13, lighting the courthouse and downtown green and asking residents and businesses to change one bulb to green to highlight local veteran resources.

As the county moves through mid-week phone interviews and schedules in-person meetings with finalists, volunteers and Snyder will maintain services at the Annex so local veterans continue to have access to benefits and assistance during the hiring transition.