Before the COVID-19 pandemic it was normal for veterans within the Polk County community to meet every three months for a breakfast together.

The time of fellowship was surely missed but, luckily, the group is ready to gather again.

Polk County Veterans Service Officer Gina Cashion has announced that a free breakfast will be served from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Friday, July 9 at the Polk County Veterans Service office, which is located at The Meeting Place (75 Carmel Lane) in Columbus.

“Before COVID I hosted a Veteran’s Breakfast every three months,” Cashion said. “This breakfast is a Welcome Back Veteran’s Breakfast as it has been over a year since we had the last one, which occurred in March 2020.”

The breakfast will include sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits, grits, muffins, cantaloupe, coffee and juice. If you are a veteran and are interested in attending the Welcome Back Veteran’s Breakfast, please RSVP by calling Cashion at 828-894-0003.

The Polk County Veterans Service office is available to assist residents – veterans and widows – possibly obtain benefits from Veterans Affairs. The pandemic didn’t slow down this need, so Cashion was able to adjust and continue to help local veterans.

“I have been in my office and if veterans wanted to come to my office,” she said, “I would open my window and we would talk and file claims through the window or out in the parking lot.”

For more information about the Polk County Veteran Service Office, please go to http://www.polknc.org/veterans_services.php.