The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE -- U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz will hold his annual Congressional Veterans and Military Summit from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Jacob Brown Auditorium on the UTB-TSC campus.
The summit will provide services and information to veterans and their families. Admission is free. Brownsville Urban System buses will provide free transportation to the event for veterans who have proper identification.
"This summit provides an excellent opportunity for area veterans to meet with people who can offer explanations of the services available to them in the Rio Grande Valley, and to get a number of free medical screenings, and even door prizes," Ortiz said in a statement.
"One of our high priority projects right now is to compile a more complete counting of veterans residing in South Texas to counter the claims of the Department of Veterans Affairs that our population here is insufficient to support a regional veterans' hospital."
Lt. Gen. Thomas R. Turner, commanding general of U.S. Army North, the Fifth Army based at Fort Sam Houston, will deliver the keynote address.
Afterward, the summit will break up into two parts:
z Veterans Administration representatives from Washington, D.C. and Texas will provide an update on current veteran issues, including benefits and enrollment, business, education, health, mental health and transitional assistance. They will answer veterans' questions directly.
z Community-based organizations from the area will provide services to veterans for employment, education, health care, social services, business, housing, transportation, and immigration. The summit will offer a Job Fair and Health Fair offering free glaucoma screenings, free blood pressure screenings, counseling, and many other services for veterans.