The Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester is working on an expansion to provide services to vets in the off-hours.
It’s called a Peer Support Recreation Center and it will be open after daily work hours and on the weekends.
VOC Executive Director Laura Heltz said that the space will have room for recreation, and also she said it will just be a place for local veterans to chat with each other and talk about various issues they have on their minds.
Heltz noted that a lot of veterans, especially those who served in combat, have difficulty sharing those experiences with someone who does not have a similar background.
“What does it mean when you come back from an experience like that, and you just don't feel like you resonate with all the people around you…you've done something, you've seen something that nobody has seen or done,?” said Heltz, “and how do you explain to them why you feel a certain way?”
Heltz said the new expansion and other efforts at the Veterans Outreach Center on South Ave. will help the center redouble its suicide prevention efforts and offer a place of hope and healing to local veterans.
And she said they intentionally want the new Peer Support Recreation Center to be open outside of regular business hours.
“There are very few places that avail themselves to people in need at night, and on the weekends,” said Heltz, “and I think that most of us who are in a helping profession recognize that the need doesn't end. If anything, it's exacerbated in the evening and weekend hours when nothing else is available.”
The new Peer Support Recreation center will be an addition to the current Outreach Center on South Avenue. Construction is set to be completed by late spring, and a ribbon cutting held later this year.
The center is named after the late Steve Preston, described as "a dedicated donor to VOC and career firefighter." He and his wife Carol contributed $500,000 in funding to the project.
The expansion is being built with the help of other donations.
