DAV service center reopening, thanks to office space donation

A retired Army colonel’s donation of office space will enable the Colorado Springs Disabled American Veterans Service Center to reopen Nov. 1, three months after it closed because of funding problems.

Colorado Springs real estate broker Jack Gloriod donated about 500 square feet of space in an upscale building off Lake Avenue, where he has his own office.

“(Congressman) Doug Lamborn’s office contacted me, told me what the problem was and asked me to help, and I said, ‘sure, I’ll do that,’” Gloriod said Thursday. “I’m a retired Army colonel and a Purple Heart recipient myself, so I have an affinity for the disabled veterans because of my own experience. I’d like to help them, and this is the way I can go about doing that.”

The DAV’s service center helps veterans expedite the cumbersome, lengthy process of filing claims to receive any number of benefits, including disability. When the center closed, veterans either had to drive to the DAV national service office in Denver, or go to the El Paso County Veterans Services Office for help.

But the county office is kept busy with its own caseload, and the DAV closure drove its claims up by about 5 percent, said Carl McDaniel, assistant county veterans service officer.

“I wouldn’t call it a backlog, but it did impact how quickly we could see people,” McDaniel said. “With them reopening, it’s a plus.”

The Colorado Springs DAV service center gets the bulk of its funding from the DAV thrift store on Platte Avenue, but its profits have been declining. As a result, the board of the DAV Department of Colorado voted to close the center July 29. However, a transportation program that shuttles veterans to the VA medical center in Denver remained open.

The donation of office space frees up money from the thrift store to bring back a full-time veterans service officer and add a transportation coordinator. Two slots for students in a work-study program also will be reinstated.

Although Gloriod is donating the office space, utilities and furnishings indefinitely, DAV service officer Steve Stewart said the local office will still rely on money from thrift store sales.
“We need people to continue donating and shopping at the thrift store,” Stewart said. “That’s the catalyst that pushes us onward and upward.”

The DAV building at 3754 LaSalle is up for sale, and the transportation program will move with the service center to the new office at 660 Southpointe Court, Suite 316.