VETRIDES funding to be cut for 2013

November 27, 2012, 9:00 pm by James Walker

The future for Burnet County’s popular VETRIDES program is uncertain because the Texas Veterans Commission, which funded the program with proceeds from Texas lottery sales the past two years, has said it will not do so in 2013.

Debbie Carter, Burnet County’s grants coordinator who, along with Precinct 2 Constable and Veterans Affairs Coordinator Chuck Carraway, has been instrumental in securing grants from the veterans commission the past two years, told County Commissioners Tuesday there will be no such money next year.

"They won’t tell me anything about why,” Carter told the commissioners. "They just said they are not funding it next year.”

The VETRIDES program has been a popular and successful program since its inception two years ago.

The veterans commission gave the program $90,000 in grant money in 2011 and has given it $100,230 to this point in 2012, Carter said.

"That’s a chunk of money,” she said.

Veterans, including aging World War II and Korean Conflict survivors and others who served during the Vietnam War have been able to use the service to get to medical and other appointments in places like Temple, Killeen, San Antonio, Austin and Cedar Park. Many of them are unable to drive long distances if any at all and some don’t have personal vehicles, Carter said.

For more of this story, see Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.