TRIO Student Support Services Veterans held its annual Women Veteran Connection event on April 27, its first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Women Veteran Connection is an annual event focused on community-building meant for Fresno State female veteran students, faculty and staff and their dependents to tell their stories and share veteran resources and information at Fresno State.

“Fresno State has the second largest veteran student population in the CSU system,” said Ger Xiong, director of TRIO Student Support Services Program and Student Support Services Veterans. “This program helps connect those veterans to one another and help them build a community for themselves.”

This year's event had 21 participants, all of whom participated in a free painting lesson at the Fresno State Winery. Local artist Colleen Wilson, who has worked with Veterans Affairs to organize events before, taught the lesson.

Representatives from the Veterans Affairs Hospital offered information on resources for female veterans and local partners donated goodie bags with informational resources on financial need, family care, as well as lunch boxes that guests could take home with them.

The Women Veteran Connection began in 2017 in order for female veteran staff, faculty and students, as well as dependents, to build relationships with each other and a supportive community for one another.

TRIO veterans is a federally funded retention program that serves the student veteran population who are low income, first-generation, or Veteran students with disabilities who meet federal eligibility criteria.

For more information, visit the TRIO SSSV website or email ssspv@mail.fresnostate.edu.