Reminder: Veterans Sanctuary is now open for business Veterans Sanctuary is accepting referrals as of July 11, 2011. Veterans Sanctuary offers moderate to long term (Level 3B – 3C) inpatient – non- hospital treatment for addiction and co-occurring disorders (including PTSD) for male and female Veterans. For admission or referral Read more…
Although not available yet in printed form, the 2011 edition of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors handbook is now available online at (more…)
The Easton Area High School Vietnam War Memorial Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is trying to build an Easton Area High School memorial site to honor those who served during the Vietnam War. It will have a website soon.
In the interim, (more…)
Speaker: On 15 June, Paul Hoffecker, founder and CEO of Renovating Hope (www.renovatinghope.org), spoke to the Council on the topic of “Renovating Hope … Finding a Better Way” and of his organization’s ambitions.
About three years ago he was asked to help a veteran in fixing his home. Shortly afterwards, ten more requests followed. From this experience Renovating Hope, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization was born.
Renovating Hope is not an “Extreme Makeover” giveaway program [editor’s comment]. Instead it provides basic housing rehabilitation services (roofing repairs, plumbing, electrical and HVAC/ appliance purchases and installations, and the like) to those who are or have given military service and are in immediate need and in financial difficulty (and the widows of KIA). Those to receive the offer of help must first demonstrate they have been unsuccessful, after sincere effort, in securing sufficient funds to hire help and/or to effect the repairs to their homes themselves.
Renovating Hope is also about community working together to solve problems. It is an alliance between contractors (typically members of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry) and suppliers and those being helped under the thoughtful guidance and negotiating power of Renovating Hope.
Beginning June 13, the American Red Cross will use a single telephone number for its emergency communication services. All military members and their families, regardless of where they live, can use 1-877-272-7337 to send an urgent message to a service member. The number is toll free in the United States. (more…)
Veterans Sanctuary is now open for business. If you have not heard, as 19 May 2011, Veterans Sanctuary — a new drug, alcohol, and PTSD therapeutic community treatment program for Pennsylvania’s veterans and located in the newly renovated building at 24 S. Fifth St., Allentown — cleared the last licensing Read more…
On 10 May, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an a 104-page opinion asserted that years of “unchecked incompetence” at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was directly responsible for an epidemic of suicides and lengthy delays in processing disability benefits for war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It ruled “that the VA’s failure to provide adequate procedures for veterans facing prejudicial delays in the delivery of mental health care violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.” (more…)
Speaker: Mr. Stephen Lew, the Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) Program’s Advocate (contractor) for our region spoke to the Council at its 18 May meeting, explaining the program and his role within it.
Not to be confused with the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization, AW2 is “the official Army program that serves the severely wounded, ill, and injured soldiers, veterans, and their families, wherever located and for as long as it takes” – even a lifetime if necessary. It was created in 2004 as part Army Medical Command’s response to a critical need to transform outpatient care and services. (more…)
After missing the 30 January deadline for full implementation, the VA is posting the “interim” final rule to enable them to get rolling on “Family Caregiver Program” of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act 2010, which includes enhanced services to a family caregiver of a veteran who sustained a serious injury in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001. The Act does not help veterans of other periods.
Aspects of the program, which came on line on 9 May 2011, are: (more…)
Since at least 2008, veterans defaulting on their mortgages has been a concern. Unlike several other states, Pennsylvania has no special home loan programs to assist. However, for veterans there is possible recourse through a service offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Cleveland Regional Loan Center (in the Cleveland Regional Office) for those of us who live in the Lehigh Valley. (more…)