RUMFORD – Robin Shepard is wondering just what’s up with Rumford-area veterans.

Shepard is a five-year veterans advocate with the Maine State Bureau of Veterans Services in Lewiston.

He helps Maine veterans, their dependents and survivors apply for both state and Veterans’ Administration benefits, including health care for eligible veterans.

“I work with older veterans a lot,” he said. “It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis, but I try to help them out.”

When Shepard’s at veterans offices in South Paris and North Windham, he’s inundated with people seeking help or getting their questions about federal or state benefits answered.

“I took up the North Windham area and the response was overwhelming. For two hours twice a month, I’m straight out with people. In the South Paris office, it’s the same thing, so the problem seems to be isolated in the Rumford area,” Shepard said.

From 9 a.m. to noon on every second and fourth Thursday of the month, excluding state and federal holidays, Shepard is at the Career Center on Congress Street in Rumford.

“In Rumford, I started noticing a seasonal drop when the weather gets nice, but normally in the fall, it starts to pick back up,” Shepard said.

In August, the Lewiston office ran a public service advertisement in Rumford-area papers. It had no effect.

“So we’re wondering what to try next. We need to try and make the veterans community in Rumford aware that someone is up there to help them with their benefits,” he added.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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