Plans to Help North County Veterans

The new decade will bring new hope to Veterans in the North County.

The North County Times reports that the Veterans Association of North County is hoping to covert Oceanside’s former police station on Mission Avenue into a meeting hall and resource center by late May or early June. The nonprofit group plans to open the center in phases as it continues its fundraising drive.

The association represents more than two-dozen veterans groups that have raised about $275,000 to refurbish the old police station, the paper reports. The veterans are hoping to provide a meeting place and a resource center for veterans and their families, which will include a vocational training program and job center to make the transition to civilian life easier. Chuck Atkinson, the president of the association, told the paper it would take close to $1 million, so the association will continually be upgrading the facility as the funds become available.

"When we started, we didn't have anything," Atkinson said, "We're moving in the right direction."

Atkinson said the association hopes to build a second conference room, a banquet hall and a kitchen. The Oceanside Rotary Club has agreed to raise $150,000 to pay for the kitchen, but the Veterans Association is seeking other donors to help with the rest.

The association has been working since 2004 to covert the former police station and in 2008, the City Council approved a 30-year rent-free lease.
 

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