SOUTH RANGE — The Homefront Heroes Group of Caregivers of Veterans has announced its second monthly meeting. The meeting is 1-3 p.m. on Sat. April 18, at the South Range VFW Post, on Baltic Ave. in South Range.

The group’s mission is to help caregivers of military veterans meet new friends, voice concerns and learn new avenues for caring for their Veteran.

The group was recently co-founded by Doreen Jensen of Tapiola, and L’Anse resident Kerri Fletcher, both of whom are caregivers for their husbands, who are disabled veterans. Their first social group meeting was in March.

While the VA focuses on providing services and benefits for eligible veterans, Homefront Heroes focuses on the caregivers of veterans.

Jensen said the purpose of the group is to provide information to caregivers of disabled military veterans, including how to get paid through the Veterans’ Administration VA) on how to get for caregiving to the disabled veteran.

“It’s like a social group where caregivers can meet new people, voice any questions or concerns they may have,”Jensen said. “If we don’t have answers, we can get those answers for them.”

Jensen said while they cannot find answers to every question, there are many they can.

“We can direct them on where to go to get answers,” she said.

Some of the challenges facing some new to caregiving include finding rides for their veterans to doctors or other appointments.

“That is one thing we want to bring out,” said Jensen, “is the DAV only provides rides from the area to Iron Mountain and back.”

Rides to local appointments, like the Hancock Veterans clinic or another medical appointment are not included in that, and depending on friends and family, she said, can present challenges.

Other programs, such as Meals on Wheels, can be challenging, said Jensen.

“How can a veteran get Meals on Wheels or meals from Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly?” she said. “They don’t deliver to Tapiola, they don’t deliver to the outlying areas, so those are some of the questions that come up.”

The group socials also allow the caregivers to take time for themselves, said Fletcher.

“As both Darleen and I are caregivers for our veterans,” she said, “we know there is not a whole lot of social life that we have. Not only are you caring for yourself, you’re also caring for somebody else.”

Depending on the degree of care the veteran requires, Fletcher said, there is little time for socializing with friends. The group social meetings allow the caregivers to take a couple of hours for themselves.

The group’s founders plan to conduct meetings every month, and to also establish meetings in other areas of the U.P.