Who’s not going to feel appreciative when someone pays three months of your utility bill?
That’s how Delia Mendoza of Mission, who served in the Army for three years, described her gratitude for Operation Bravo Zulu, a program of the Hidalgo County Community Service Agency that assists local veterans.
“They helped me with my utility bill,” Mendoza said. “I’ve been very appreciative of the program. I appreciate everything that they’ve done for me.”
She has received such assistance for close to three years now, and on Friday, the Hidalgo County Community Advisory Board approved and accepted a $300,000 grant from the Texas Veterans Commission Fund for continued assistance that Bravo Zulu provides to veterans like Mendoza.
Bravo Zulu helps honorably discharged veterans in the form of electric utility assistance, but the program also serves as a hub for veteran-related resources and other veteran programs.
“Bravo Zulu was started about almost six years ago now,” CSA Director Jaime Longoria said. “Bravo Zulu actually means — in military terms — ‘job well done.’ It came as a result of really a need to first of all say thank you and recognize honorably discharged veterans for the work that they’ve done in terms of protecting our nation.”
The program provides temporary financial assistance for veterans who are living below 200% of federal poverty. In other words, a veteran who lives alone and makes less than $25,760 would qualify for the program’s financial assistance.
The $300,000 grant will be able to assist about 500 veterans with their electrical bills for up to three months this year.
The second mission, as Longoria termed it, is to get veterans in the door.
“And really right now in pandemic times it’s a virtual door,” Longoria said. “(Veterans can) talk to us about what’s going on and how we can best help them in other ways. We’ve heard all too often that a lot of these military veterans suffer from depression and suffer from a lot of these burdens and come back with all kinds of conditions that really make life hard for them. Many of them end up taking their own lives.”
Longoria said a significant percentage of veterans who die by suicide are individuals who do not have any connections to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Operation Bravo Zulu has made it its mission to not only provide temporary financial assistance, but to also ensure that any veteran applying for assistance is enrolled with the VA.
“If they’d prefer not to be connected to the VA, then we try to get them connected to the county veterans service officer (Felix Rodriguez), who is a local county paid official who can help them with anything from housing all the way to medical issues to all kinds of things — psychological therapy if that’s what’s needed and all kinds of support services,” Longoria said.
Another veteran who has received assistance from the program is Octavio Cortina of Edinburg, who served in the Army for seven years including three months in Korea.
He has been receiving assistance with his electric bills, but said the program also helped him find a company that could fix the air conditioner in his home as well as other small projects.
“It’s great,” Cortina said about Operation Bravo Zulu. “It’s pretty good for all the veterans because most of the veterans are old already, especially like me. They’ve been a big help, even if it’s only three months, we really appreciate that.”
Veterans who are seeking assistance are encouraged to call (956) 383-6240, or visit www.hidalgocsa.org and click the utility assistance prompt.
