CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Montgomery County Veterans Coalition has been at the forefront of helping with the needs of the veteran community since they began close to 10 years ago.

“We have more than 400 members that represent over 200 nonprofits, veteran organizations, government agencies, churches and businesses,” said Sherry Pickering, executive director. “I think education, collaboration and advocacy, are the most important things that we do.”

From the start, Pickering said, she felt this was something bigger than just a monthly meeting. “We could reconnect and support the whole veteran community, and the non-veteran community as well. We could be that connector piece for organizations, for services and people.”

The Veterans Administration reports that Montgomery County is in the top 4% of all military veteran populations in the U.S. and ranked No. 25 for their total known veteran population at slightly over 14%.

Pickering said a lot of people don’t realize what the coalition does. “We work in every area of a veteran’s life. To summarize what we do, we advocate for veterans through resourcing, collaboration, and education.”

Pickering added that the group facilitates a flow of information. “All of our members send us their information and we put in one email and send it out back to the coalition and then our members send it out to their people.”

“We are fortunate to have veterans in our work force. There are companies that are looking at our area, just because we have veterans transitioning out of the military. Also, people don’t think about how much veterans contribute to our local economy, to leadership in our area, and to our community,” Pickering said.

The Veteran Owned Business Guide highlights veteran businesses. Simply go to the coalition website and search for a local business, or you can submit your veteran-owned business to be listed.

That website also features a Friend of the Coalition program for monetary donations that has three levels of sponsorship support.

“Being able to educate the veterans, educate the civilian population, and educate our leaders, is a really important part of what we do. We advocate and serve as a veteran voice in our community,“ Pickering said.

To learn more about the work of the Montgomery County Veterans Coalition, visit their website, vetcoalition.org, email sherry@vetcoalition.org, or cc@vetcoalition.org.

Giving Grace, sponsored by Grace Dental, is an ongoing Clarksville Now series showcasing local nonprofit organizations.