Mass. Launches Web Portal For Vets Services

Ahead of Memorial Day Weekend, the Patrick administration has launched a new website — MassVetsAdvisor.org — designed to offer "enhanced access to services and support for veterans living in the Commonwealth," according to the governor's office.

The site seeks to help veterans and their families access "more than 200 state and federal benefits in one location," according to the press release, "including programs for education, counseling, employment, health care and other services."

“Massachusetts veterans have bravely served our country, and we need to ensure these men and women have access to the benefits they have rightfully earned,” Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray said in the release.

MassVetsAdvisor lists the services available to each particular veteran, and allows veterans to pass along their "action plan" for applying for benefits to their local veterans officer.

The portal was funded partly by federal stimulus dollars, and was developed by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services and the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program.

The launching of the site comes a day after a ceremony honoring fallen Massachusetts service members on Boston Common.

At the park, relatives and volunteers have planted 33,000 American flags for those who have died in active duty since the Civil War, and during Thursday's ceremony family members read the names of the 159 fallen Massachusetts service members who have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 9/11.