A gathering to protest the recent Iowa Veterans Home layoffs is planned for Wednesday.

Organized by Wyatt Manship, he said it will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Echo statue parking lot in the 13th Street District. Protesters will then walk to the IVH campus, staying on the public roads.

“I invite any community members, veterans, anyone who wants to help the cause,” he said. “The main point is to fully fund the Iowa Veterans Home. These people fought for our country and lived honorably, and we are not taking care of them.”

Manship met with interested people Thursday evening to formulate protest plans and discuss the troubles IVH staff are experiencing.

“We talked about how [the layoffs] are affecting residents, how the policies are affecting services for the residents,” he said. “Overall, they are paying people less money and making people do more with less. That is affecting residents.”

It is time for people to speak up, Manship said, which is what he is doing. He added he would not be surprised if he gets fired from his IVH social worker position as a result.

Even with the polarization of today’s society, Manship said everyone can agree United States veterans deserve quality service.

“I think we can agree they are not getting those services at IVH,” he said. “They are trying to spin [the layoffs] as a good thing, but it’s not. The administration keeps making policies hurting veterans and loyal employees. They are balancing the budgets on our backs.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.