By Pam Black

The Scottsdale-based non-profit See 4 Vets recently contributed $5,000 to the Veteran Support Services at Arizona Western College to be used for scholarships.

Over the past year See 4 Vets has visited community colleges around the state to determine the needs of student Veterans and to evaluate which colleges would put the funds to the best use.

See4Vets (short for Supporting Education and Employment for Veterans) recognizes that about a million men and women will be leaving the military during the next 3-4 years. The organization is dedicated to easing the transition of veterans and their families back into civilian life by addressing their educational and employment needs.

Gabriela S. Herwig, AWC Coordinator of Veteran Services said that people often ask why veterans need scholarships if they have the school benefits from being in the military.

"All veterans have different educational needs," says Herwig. "Some of them use up their benefits for developmental courses (anything under 100) while others save their benefits for upper-level courses."

Organizations like See4Vets provide much-needed help to cover the needs of veterans that military and government programs don't provide. The See4Vets web site (www/see4vets.org) provides information on the organization's goals as well as on how individuals and groups in the Yuma community can support the organization as it supports our community's veterans.

Photo courtesy of AWC Photo Services