Konstantin Vengerowsky/Clarendon Citizen
Navy veteran helps others get benefits
A guided effort to help veterans receive benefits. That is what Outreach Helping Veterans (OHV) is all about. Started by Cene Pack, in April 2009, the organization has helped 115 people so far. Pack, a Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War, started the organization after she retired and faced many challenges in obtaining her benefits. She said that she had eight disabilities, but only received benefits for two from the Department of Veteran Affairs. It took her 13 years to get all the benefits she said that she deserved.
“I was disabled and I had to do it all myself,” Pack, 45, said. “When I achieved my goal I decided to help others.”
It all started with Ed Levy, 60, who had a brother who was a disabled vet. He came to Pack for guidance. Because of her experience, Pack was able to help Levy’s brother, and then some of his veteran friends to get benefits.
“I told Cene that this was her calling,” Levy said. “I mean when you get somewhere and you know how to do it, why not help others in the same situation?”
Pack, a hard worker by nature, started helping people in the local community. Word spread fast, and soon she was getting calls from veterans in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Pack started holding rallies in Clarendon and the surrounding counties. Her volunteer-based organization brought more people along everywhere she went.
OHV has now grown to about 30 people, made up mostly of Pack’s relatives and other veterans. Pack has made it her full-time job. A job that she gladly does for free.
“She would call me sometimes at four or five o’clock in the morning excited that she had found some new information for somebody,” said Aerial Billups, Pack’s cousin and volunteer with the organization. “She’s constantly researching.”
Pack said that many disabled vets who go through the process of getting their benefits are often denied the first time. After several attempts, they lose their motivation, to go further. And this is where she comes in.
“I want to let them know that when they think there is no hope...that there is hope that nothing is final until they stop fighting,” she said.
Pack sits down or talks by telephone with each vet who seeks her help. She researches information about their particular case, helps them collect the necessary paper work, and then files the documents with the Department of Veteran Affairs.
She encourages all veterans to research how many benefits they are eligible for.
“Before anyone can help you, you got to be willing to help yourself,” she said.
Larry J. Bruce, 61, a Vietnam Army veteran, heard about Pack from a V.A. hospital in Columbia. He is trying to receive more disability benefits.
“Back then [when I got out of the military] I didn’t feel like fighting with the government,” Bruce said. “Now I’m fighting.”
The Department of Veteran Affairs has a scale that they go by when determing who receives how much benefits. The scale ranges from 10 to 100 percent and is based on the disability, number of dependents, and other factors. Many veterans do not receive near the amount they deserve because they simply don’t know what they are eligible for, according to Pack.
If you or someone you know is a veteran and need assistance in obtaining benefits contact Pack at 460-3422 or 478-3422. You can also email her at OHV_2010@yahoo.com. Donations are always welcome.
Pack holds benefit rallies open to all veterans every first Saturday of a month in Foreston and every first Tuesday in Sumter.
