CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Military veterans are getting free access to laptops to aid them in online jobs and benefits searches. The program is called the Veterans Loaner Program. The City of Corpus Christi, Councilwoman Paulette M. Guajardo, and the Texas Veterans Leadership Program unveiled the new service on Thursday at La Retama Central Library.
"It's a program where we're going to start sharing laptops with veterans who are looking for employment opportunities applying for jobs, applying for VA Benefits, any sort of thing that they need technology assistance for," said Gina Bohnert with the Texas Veteran Leadership Program.
Bohnert says the pandemic has changed the way veterans can look for employment and learn about their benefits.
"As we know with COVID a lot of offices have been closed so a lot of accesses have gone virtual even hiring fairs have gone virtual," explained Bohnert.
The library is equipped with 10 laptops exclusively for veterans use. Veterans do not have to be Corpus Christi residents to take part in the program but they will need a library card. Those can be obtained at any Nueces County library.
Bohnert also adds that the Texas Veteran Leadership Program and Paulette Guajardo hope to expand the program to other cities.
"We're hoping to build from these 10 laptops in this location and hopefully we can do more, possibly [in] Robstown," said Bohnert.