Veterans workshop and learning center opens in Bay City

BAY CITY, Mich. (WNEM) - A space just for veterans is celebrating its grand opening.

The Bay Area Veterans Workshop and Learning Center showed off its building on North Madison Avenue in Bay City on Thursday, May 11.

Back in November 2021, TV5 visited the center as construction was underway. Founders Keith Markstrom and Mike Jamrog, both Vietnam veterans themselves, detailed how the idea had grown from a few scribbles on a napkin into a 5,700-square-foot building tailored to those who’ve returned home from service.

Volunteers and more than $950,000 in fundraising have helped the organization to build out the facility and fill it with a variety of power tools and spaces for counseling, conversation and classes. It’s designed to give veterans a place to not only build skills like woodworking or electrical, but also confidence, camaraderie, and connections within the community.

Thursday’s grand opening included recognition of donors and volunteers as well as an open house.