CANTON ‒ The Stark County Veterans Service Commission is starting a new program to give care packages to veterans in the county jail.

Commission Executive Director De Ann Williams said the packages, which have a notepad, shampoo, body wash, wash cloth, pencil, toothpaste and deodorant inside a laundry bag, will be another way for the agency to reach out to veterans in crisis.

"We have 23,083 veterans in Stark County, (but) there's so many veterans that don't know we exist," Williams said. "We're trying to reach all of our veterans at every level, everywhere they're at on their journey, and the jail happened to be one of those stops on some people's journeys."

Veterans struggling to reenter society can develop mental health or addiction problems, which sometimes leads to incarceration,

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