EUGENE RAMSEY
(Nominated by Cheri Barry)
The Lauderdale AG Center
May 23, 2011
Eugene Ramsey started working with the East Central Mississippi Chapter of the American Red Cross seven years ago. Eugene serves as the coordinator at the Veterans Resource Center and has worked diligently to provide the utmost service to the veterans who have come through his door. He coordinates meetings between the service center and the veterans who want to receive help in getting accustomed to peacetime life after coming back from war. Eugene also helps soldiers to get the full extent of their benefits from being a veteran, such as how to buy a house, where to get a loan and who to see at the Veterans Center in Jackson, MS. A former United States Marine and Vietnam War veteran, Eugene possesses personal insight into what it is like to go from wartime to peacetime society seemingly overnight and wanted to ensure that his fellow veterans of today have resources that were not available when he served in 1968 and 1969. Eugene is also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), like many of the soldiers who he helps. Eugene was key to the development of the Veterans Center. After traveling to the Veterans Affairs center in Jackson two or three times a week, Eugene decided to approach the Red Cross to help with the development of a center in Meridian. Support from the East Central Mississippi Chapter’s service counties was overwhelming, and soon the idea became reality. The community supported it, the board supported it, and the veterans loved it. Today, the Veterans Center continues to provide quality services for the men and women returning from war and coming back into peacetime society, thanks to a large part by Eugene Ramsey.
