By: Ryan Duey

Photo Courtesy of

Ashley Delehanty with the Veterans Administration (VA), along with American Legion Post #101 members Ron and Jeanna Fancella, spoke to Clay Counts Coalition members about veterans throughout Clay County.

Delehanty said there are a little over 1,000 veterans residing in Clay County, which makes up around 16% of the population. Of those 1,000-plus veterans, only 38% use VA services.

“The difference between veterans who exist and veterans who actually use VA care is very different. About 38% of the veteran population in Clay County uses the VA.”

“Why is this important? The VA has a lot of resources, and unfortunately, they don’t have a lot of veterans who use the VA for health care for a very large swath of different reasons.”

“Clay County is a little lower than the national average. The national average is about 40%.”

Delehanty said, while most people think all veterans use VA for healthcare, that is far from the case. Veterans use everything from private doctors to Fort Riley for their care, also. 

Ron Fancella said there is an active American Legion Post in Clay Center. They now meet at the Armory in Clay Center. He said after closing their physical building, they shifted their focus..

“A couple of years ago, we closed down our building. We moved our meetings to the Armory and pretty much focused on providing our services to the community and to other veterans.”

“We’ve tried to become more visible in the community, doing more things, not just for the Post, but for any event out in the public.”

“So, instead of that money going out the window, trying to run a bar and a restaurant, we’re investing that back into the community.”

The Legion has three different organizations under its umbrella: Post, Auxiliary, and SAL. All organizations make up veterans and their families.

Since shifting its focus, the Legion has greatly increased its support and donations to community services. The Legion and VA are both in place to support all veterans in our community.