How the MVAA shows dedication to Veterans every day

By Zaneta Adams, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Director

This month I’d like to focus on our recent interaction with Gulf War veteran Michael Kuta – an interaction that genuinely reflects what the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency is all about.

Early this year, Kuta was working security at music festivals across the country and loving his job. Then, on March 10, the coronavirus pandemic shut down public gatherings and put the former active duty Marine out of the position he had held for three years.

The 51-year-old Southfield man, armed with a communications degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and years of experience in marketing and security, tried unsuccessfully for more than four months to find a good job with benefits in the pandemic-ravaged economy.

Feeling somewhat desperate, and with his unemployment benefits running out, Kuta called the MVAA’s 1-800-MICH-VET hotline on Monday, July 27. Two days later, on Wednesday, July 29, Kuta had a managerial job, with benefits, as a road supervisor for Detroit-based City Shield Security Services.

“My first shift was that Friday,” Kuta tells us. “It was a good week.”

Kuta’s “good week” highlights what the MVAA is all about. As the state-run coordinating agency for Michigan’s 550,000 veterans and their families, the MVAA often gets confused with the federal VA. But unlike the VA, the MVAA does not directly provide veteran benefits. Instead, the agency was set up by state leaders in 2013 as a one-stop resource center to help veterans navigate the labyrinth of veteran-centric organizations and ultimately get connected to benefits they earned for their service.

We can’t always help get a veteran a job in two days. Still, we promise to do our best to help every veteran with their needs – whether that’s in employment, education, health care, disability benefits, emergency assistance, or other qualify-of-life areas.

From the technicians who handle the calls to our hotline, to the analysts who work with employers, universities, health care providers, and other organizations, to the accredited Veteran Service Officers who help veterans file for benefits, our entire team is committed to serving veterans and their families.

Perhaps Dave Dunckel, the MVAA analyst who worked with Kuta and City Shield, puts it best:

“Saying you support veterans is one thing, but actually supporting veterans is something completely different. Our agency shows this dedication to veterans every day. The teamwork we have within the MVAA and the relationships we’ve built around the state is testament to this mission.”

It all starts with a call to 1-800-MICH-VET.