Chesapeake, Va. - Veterans living in Chesapeake have a new option to help them navigate all the benefits they earned with their service.
A Virginia Department of Veterans Services benefits field office is now open on the Chesapeake campus of Tidewater Community College.
"It’s been talked about for almost two years, so it’s really wonderful to see it come to fruition," TCC President Dr. Edna Baehre-Kolovani told NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Wednesday.
There are more than 27,000 veterans who currently live in Chesapeake, making it the perfect location for the 24th field office.
"Virginia has the fastest growing veterans’ population in the United States. Chesapeake is at the epicenter of that growth," Virginia's Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs John C. Harvey, Jr. said.
The office will help veterans more easily access an array of benefits they earned during service to the United States.
"As many of the veterans find, navigating the VA is difficult to say the least, we provide the service of helping them navigate those waters," Commissioner of the Virginia Department for Veteran Services John Newby told Corillo.
"The most important thing they are going to be able to do is sit down with an expert who will help them navigate a very difficult, bureaucratic and very lengthy process," Harvey added.
TCC is providing the office space for the new office free of charge.
It will house two staff members to assist veterans, while adding an additional staffer in 2016.
