BELLEFONTE — The Centre County Board of Commissioners issued two proclamations for veterans and service members during a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
The BOC declared November as Military Appreciation Month and the week of Monday, Nov. 11, through Friday, Nov. 15, as National Veterans Small Business Week.
During the meeting, representatives from Penn State and Veterans Affairs spoke to the commissioners expressing their gratitude for the proclamations and calling attention to events in the area surrounding Veterans Day.
“This proclamation represents a joint effort between Penn State University and the county to
translate gratitude for current, former and fallen servicemembers into sustainable social
and civic support,” a BOC press release stated.
During the meeting, Col. Eugene McFeely, senior director for Veterans Affairs and Services at Penn State, Brian Querry, director of Veterans Affairs, and Julian Morales, Penn State director of local government and community relations, spoke expressing their appreciation for the commissioners for adopting November as Military Appreciation Month, emphasized the importance of collaboration efforts between the county and university and provided more information on events surrounding Veterans Day in Centre County.
“A special thanks to the commissioners and the staff for helping to coordinate this. We really appreciate it and the continued partnership that we all share,” Morales said during the meeting.
McFeely noted that the university would host a series of events for military appreciation, including a
ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, on Old Main. Querry shared that there would be a flyover event on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at Foster Joseph Sayers Sr. Memorial Site in Bald Eagle State Park.
“Penn State’s got a storied history of veteran service and it’s only appropriate that we honor that service, and we really appreciate you coming in today. … I think Penn State and Centre County, we are pretty much hand and glove and working on so many different projects, but this is one we can be particularly proud of. So, thank you,” Commissioner Steve Dershem said during the meeting.
Annie Hughes, interim director of the Veteran Business Outreach Center at Penn State, also spoke during the meeting, calling to attention the amount of veteran-owned small businesses in the area and sharing information on how the Veteran Business Outreach Center at Penn State helps veterans start and develop their own small businesses.
“Veterans have a tremendous work ethic; they tend to also be very organized. … They also tend to be very successful as entrepreneurs,” Commissioner Chair Mark Higgins shared.
Vice Chair Amber Concepion echoed Higgins sentiment stating, “Veterans have gained all kinds of specific and technical skills in their service often, particularly in technology, and I think they often are going to have a lot of unique ideas to bring to small business development and so this is both beneficial for veterans and beneficial for our economy.”
