Penn State Berks will host its annual Veterans Day program at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11. The virtual event is free and open to the campus and community. Attendees can click the link to attend, and enter the passcode 715190.
The keynote is titled “Berks County Veteran Affairs Provides Benefit Advocacy Services to Veterans and their Dependents.” It will be delivered by Ken Lebron, director of Berks County Veteran Affairs.
Lebron served a tour of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2006-07. He has received several service awards including Navy Unit Commendation Award, Selected Marine Corp Reserve Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, and Navy and Marine Corp Achievement Medal, just to name a few.
Lebron served as a program coordinator and case manager for veterans living with substance abuse issues at the Community Prevention Partnership of Berks County. He went on to serve as a program coordinator and case manager at Catholic Charities Diocese of Allentown, where he supported the administration of a Veterans Affairs grant program titled Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF), whose goal is to rapidly rehouse homeless veterans and provide other essential supportive services in helping the veteran / veteran family to become self-sustaining in permanent housing.
Currently, Lebron serves veterans as the director and county veteran service officer with The Berks County Veterans Affairs Office, also known as the Ecthberger Veterans Service Center. In this role, he supervises and develops capable staff to meet with Berks County veterans, their widows and dependents to provide assistance and coordination of information and programs for veterans. He also advises veterans or family members about VA Benefits. The team provides advocacy services to the 23,000 veterans in Berks County.
“Veterans Day is an opportunity for the entire Penn State Berks community to pay tribute to our outstanding veteran students and to all veterans who have served our country with such honor,” said Joe Webb, director of student affairs at Penn State Berks. “Our veteran students make Penn State Berks a better place, and they symbolize the tremendous contribution that veterans have made to our nation.”
