SAN ANTONIO – Living in Military City USA, Noraliz Maysonet Carvajal says you can’t go very far in San Antonio without running into a veteran.
“Everywhere we go, we find active duty from all branches and veterans from all branches and all walks of life, too,” she said. Some of them need help.”
As an Army Veteran, Maysonet Carvajal says she can relate to that. Now, she wants to help other veterans who are going through similar trials.
“I myself suffer from PTSD, so I was in the home, and I wouldn’t come out. And a friend of mine said ‘Let’s get you out in the sun’. And, she asked me to volunteer for Wellness 4 Warriors”, she says.
Wellness 4 Warriors is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting veterans through holistic healthcare by providing them with specialized mattresses and other sleep care items.
On Saturday morning, the nonprofit held its 9th annual Wellness Expo, a one-stop shop created to provide veterans with a place to access community resources, vendors, and nonprofits.
One of those nonprofits, Paws for Purple Hearts, provides canine-assisted therapeutic programs for veterans while training service dogs. Dani Garroutte, a marketing and communications specialist, says she tries to attend events like this one as much as she can.
“It’s really important because a lot of veterans don’t know the resources that are available for them, especially if they’re suffering. They need support. They don’t realize that these opportunities are available for them,” she said.
This was the eighth year Wellness 4 Warriors held its Wellness Expo. Maysonet Carvajal, the nonprofit’s vice president, says she hopes to continue hosting this event for years to come after hearing positive feedback from veterans.
“So then it becomes, like, your success, and their success is the same.”