SPOKANE, Wash. – In August, a U.S. Inspector General’s Audit found “severe” staffing challenges within our local Veterans’ Affairs (VA) system. The audit cited shortages within psychology and psychiatry going back to 2018 in Washington, Idaho and Montana.
The audit dropped as NonStop Local was across the Inland Northwest–each one involving a veteran, and ending in a loss of life. Families of each of the men sharing their own concerns about how the VA was not able to provide those veterans with help.
In Spokane, some veterans are taking up the cause themselves, and bridging the gap to better serve those who already served us.
One of these programs: a unique farm in Eastern Spokane.
Vets on the Farm is a place where former service members like Grant Weber, Joshua Lewis and Jessica Brown are transitioning from military life to farming.
Weber, an Air Force veteran, manages the farm.
“You were in charge of national security, now you’re in charge of our food security,” said Weber. “So it comes full circle.”
Operating in partnership with the Spokane Conservation District, the farm is entirely organic–from fertilizer to pesticides. But Vets on the Farm is more than just a place to grow veggies.
“Veterans seem to benefit from tangible hands-on work,” said Lewis, a Marine Corps veteran.
Weber has been on the farm for nearly a decade. Lewis has a farm of his own, and still makes time to work this one too. Brown is a mom, a wife and in the process of building her own homestead.
“Vets on the Farm is a place where they can land safely and transition from active duty to their veteran life while still having some roots and resources available to them,” said Brown, an Air Force veteran.
Vets on the Farm is also working to breathe new life into American agriculture. According to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, the average age of the American farmer is more than 58 years old. Nearly 40 percent of farmers in the U.S. are beyond retirement age.
The farm is also providing veterans with a new start too.
“It’s becoming bigger and bigger in the veteran community–going from destruction to production. You’re taking care of something,” said Weber. “When I found this, I knew that this was the place for me.”
Across Spokane, a different program is filling the gap for those who served.
It is Navy veteran Ron ‘Z’ Zubrick’s third season on the basketball court with Parasport’s veterans’ wheelchair basketball team.
“We are super excited and really honored to be able to have a veterans wheelchair basketball team,” said Teresa Skinner, Parasport founder. “If you’re hesitant, that means you need to come.”
“It’s a way to just get out and do like we did when we were active duty and be involved with other vets,” said Zubrick. “They took me in right away. It was ‘Alright, you’re already part of the team’.”
Zubrick says shooting hoops earns those on the basketball team much more than just points on a scoreboard.
“It’s that camaraderie,” said Zubrick. “It’s that opportunity to have structure again.”
While the farm might look different from the court, both offer veterans a sense of belonging and support.
“We hear more stories between us than I’m sure the psychiatrists or the mental health people hear because they feel comfortable,” said Weber. “They need more programs like this.”
“You’re family,” said Zubrick.
You can find more information about Vets on the Farm on the website, Vets on the Farm – Spokane Conservation District. As for Parasport and their wheelchair basketball program, Basketball.
For assistance for veterans in the Inland Northwest, Spokane County Resources for Veterans | WDVA.
