In the News: ‘Helping Veterans Help Themselves’, Bay City learning center and workshop opening its doors

BAY CITY, MI - Leaving the armed forces and returning to civilian life is no easy feat for a lot of veterans. Your life used to revolve around doing everything as one unit. Whether that was eating, doing drills, or sleeping, every part of your life was done as a group.

But once it’s time to head home, you’re 100% on your own.

“Part of what a veteran experiences when he leaves the military is that loss of camaraderie,” said Mike Jamrog of the Bay Veterans Foundations. For two, four six, eight, how many ever years they were in the service, they always knew they had somebody behind them covering their back.”
“Suddenly you’re out of the military and you’re responsible now for your own decisions,” he added.

Luckily, the Bay Veterans Foundation is putting the finishing touches on a brand new facility in Bay County that is looking to embrace veterans, both young and old, as well as active service members.

The Bay Area Veterans Workshop and Learning Center at 1009 N. Madison is putting the finishing touches on its facility and getting ready to start up its programming. With the motto “Helping Veterans Help Themselves”, the facility and its volunteers are working hard to give veterans the resources and outlets they need.

“The overall goal was to create an alternative environment for veterans just out of service or been out for a long time, to create a kind of safe environment,” Jamrog said.
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The building is split into two parts -- the workshop and the learning center. In the workshop, visitors get a chance to explore different types of woodworking such as lathe turning to make bowls and cups or precision work to make things such as ukuleles and custom art...

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