Veteran's Home in Ville Platte undergoes renovations

VILLE PLATTE, La. (KLFY) — With multiple veteran groups meeting at the Veteran’s Home in Ville Platte throughout the month, Building Director Chuck Trenchard who spent 15 years in the United States Air Force started making improvements to the building not only so veterans in the area can feel at home, but also get more veterans to join the brotherhood and partake in their various events.

“We’re refurbishing it,” Trenchard said. “What I am doing right now, I’m fixing light fixtures and replacing ceiling tiles. Replacing doors. Doing some plumbing in the kitchen. Repairing the roof.”

Trenchard’s efforts also gained support from around the community to thank veterans for their service.

“Home Depot out of Carencro donated a bunch of material,” he said. “Cabot was very generous about giving us some furniture. Ace Hardware has given us things, and they’ve helped us.”

In addition to the renovations, Trenchard says a new office was built to house the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs with a counselor to help veterans and their families receive benefits they qualify for.

“That’s a real boom,” Trenchard said, “And then we use it as recruitment because when a veteran comes in here to get served, I say, ‘Oh, by the way, are you a member of a veterans service organization?’ And I tell them about it. We got guys to say ‘Yeah, I want to join that.’ and ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.'”

With all the effort to make veterans feel welcome, Trenchard says the end goal of these renovations is to inspire the next generation to carry on the memory and legacy of veterans who make their presence felt in the city for years to come.

“Ultimately, maybe one day when we’re gone, someone will see fit to convert it into a veterans museum,” Trenchard said. “We’ve already got things on the wall and memorabilia, but we’ll be getting other things in here as we go along.”