West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceding Agency | West Virginia Division of Veterans Affairs |
| Jurisdiction | The state of West Virginia |
| Headquarters | 1514B Kanawha Boulevard East, Charleston, West Virginia 25311 |
| Agency executive | Rick Thompson, Secretary of Veterans Assistance |
| Website | www.veterans.wv.gov |
The West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance is a cabinet-level agency of the West Virginia state government. It is the newest cabinet level department, having been broken off from the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety in 2011. The state has had a veterans affairs function under various names and at various levels of the government structure since 1945.
The Department performs several functions to assist the state's veteran population.
The Donel C. Kinard State Veterans Cemetery was completed in 2012 on property in Institute, West Virginia donated by the Dow Chemical Company with spaces for 60,000 eventual burials. It is named for Donel C. Kinard, a recipient of the Navy Cross during the Vietnam War.
The Veterans Home was completed in 1981 in Barboursville, West Virginia and provides housing to any honorably discharged state veteran who is fully ambulatory and independent in activities of daily living, and willing to live by the rules of the facility. Veterans are asked to contribute one-half of their income as rent, no matter what that might be.
The Veterans Nursing Home was completed in 2008 in Clarksburg, West Virginia and provides nursing home level care to 120 veterans at approximately one-third the market cost for those able to pay, although no veteran is turned away due to finances.
The department also maintains 16 offices throughout the state to assist in paperwork for federal Veteran's Affairs benefits.