Veterans and their families in Buchanan County are among those who will be served by a $512,053 federal grant aimed at strengthening suicide prevention efforts and connecting people with mental health support.
Westcare Kentucky Inc. will receive the funding to serve an area that includes Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise counties, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced. The award is part of more than $4.1 million going to eight organizations serving Virginia.
The grants will support community organizations that help veterans and their families find mental health resources, outreach programs, suicide prevention services and other assistance. The Westcare award covers the three-county service area rather than a separate allocation for Buchanan County.
“Veterans deserve to know that help is there when they need it. It is our responsibility as lawmakers to make sure that those who have sacrificed for our country are not left to suffer silently and have the support and resources that they’ve earned and are owed,” the senators said in a joint statement.
“We’re proud to have helped create this program, which is delivering critical resources to organizations on the ground working with veterans. These federal dollars will help expand lifesaving suicide prevention efforts and ensure more Virginia veterans and their families can get the support they’ve earned.”
The funding comes through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, which supports community efforts to reach veterans and connect them with services available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and local organizations.
For Buchanan County, the award brings the statewide initiative to an organization serving veterans in Southwest Virginia. The announcement did not identify how much of Westcare’s grant would be spent in each county or provide a schedule for local outreach.
The grant program grew out of the bipartisan IMPROVE Wellbeing for Veterans Act, legislation Warner led in 2019 and Kaine supported. The measure sought to improve coordination of veterans’ mental health and suicide prevention services and better measure how well those efforts work.
It became law as part of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act in 2020. Warner introduced bipartisan legislation in February 2025 to renew and expand the grant program and testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs that June in support of its extension.
Other awards announced by the senators will support organizations serving veterans in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and additional communities across the state.
Veterans experiencing a crisis, or anyone concerned about a veteran, can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1, texting 838255 or chatting online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.
The service offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day. Veterans do not have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to receive help.
