Veteran Dennis Christie with the Legion Riders helps veterans pick free stuff out of the Military Surplus store at the Stand Down event for veterans at American Legion Post 778 in Lyndora on Friday.

BUTLER TWP — American Legion Post 778 was a beehive of activity on Friday, as veterans and service providers inundated its headquarters for the second annual Butler County Stand Down, an event that seeks to unite homeless and at-risk veterans with the services and resources they need.

Organizer Allyson Rose, the community development housing coordinator with Butler County Human Services, said that with more than 40 organizations on-hand offering help with everything from joblessness and homelessness to health services and peer support programs, the goal was to serve more than 200 at-risk and homeless veterans.

With food, winter clothes and shoes available from organizations like the American Legion Riders — a group of veterans who were overseeing the distribution of military surplus clothing — and Walmart, which dispatched about a dozen management employees and hundreds of pairs of boots to be distributed among homeless veterans, organizers said they were well-provisioned to meet the need. It was community awareness that was the focus Friday.

A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.