LVMAC NEWS
LVMAC News — Rodale Institute Speaks to Council About Its Veterans Programs
On 16 August 2017, Lyndsey Antanitis from the Rodale Institute spoke to the Council on its relatively new veterans farming initiative. (more…)
LVMAC NEWS
LVMAC News — Local War Veteran’s Family Receive Specially Equipped Van
Result of Joint Lehigh Valley Effort with Recycled Rides Program
In a joint effort between the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council (LVMAC), Reliable Auto Body and the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides Program™, the keys to a newly refurbished 2010 BraunAbility EntryVan (wheelchair adapted) were presented to the Mescavage family at an 11 a.m. on 23 May at Reliable Auto Body, located at 967 Sumner Ave., Whitehall, PA. (more…)
Tidbits
LVMAC Tidbit — Department of Banking and Securities Offers Financial Management Conference
Register for 9 June Event Now
Although originally created to address a Pennsylvania Guard “Family” need, the program has application to veterans and their families as well. In fact, the Pennsylvania’s Department of Banking and Securities is offering the event to both groups. Click here to go directly to the registration site. After attending, give us your feedback. Perhaps an event can be arranged in the Lehigh Valley in the future, if we hear good words about it. (more…)
Tidbits
LVMAC Tidbit — Wilkes-Barre VA seeks to establish a Veteran and Family Advisory Council
May be heavily hospital-oriented initially, but it is also a way to feed new thoughts to the staff about customer service and events elsewhere. A vast portion of their activities are outside that pleasure dome known as Wilkes-Barre VA Hospital. Yes, it is an old idea with a face lift, Read more…
Tidbits
LVMAC Tidbit — VA’s new online tool helps Veterans make informed health care decision: VAntage Point
This is a step forward which local health networks might want to emulate. They should at least participate. Regardless of the controversy which stimulated it, such willingness on the part of the VA to be transparent should prove useful to toward improving the quality of and the understanding of the Read more…
Tidbits
LVMAC Tidbit — Team River Runner Comes to the Lehigh Valley
Team River Runner has entered the Lehigh Valley and is now an LVMAC member. Its mission is to create an environment of healthy adventure, recreation and camaraderie for healing active duty, veteran service members and their families through adaptive kayaking. It is holding indoor kayaking training in preparation for its Read more…
LVMAC NEWS
LVMAC News — Scholarship Season Has Begun, Suspense is 31 May 2017
Mr. Richard Moore, the Chairman of our Scholarship Committee, has announced that the LVMAC scholarship application period started 15 March and will end 31 May 2017. Applications postmarked after 31 May will not be considered. Some changes have been made to the program for this year. Among them, military veterans’ Read more…
LVMAC NEWS
LVMAC News — Lehigh Valley Community Foundation Steps Forth to Assist Our Veterans
At the 18 January Council Meeting, Vice President Michael Vath announced the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation had recently awarded our organization a Community Partnership Grant of $5,000 towards its efforts to assist in eliminating homelessness among our Lehigh Valley veterans. The Foundation, an important and respected part of the warp and woof of this community’s fabric, whose origin lies 1967 with Bethlehem’s 225th anniversary celebration and the donations of school children and steelworkers among others, promotes philanthropy in order to improve the quality of life in our region, encourage collaboration among area philanthropists, and to serve as a source of information and expertise regarding charitable giving.
The funds will be used by the Lehigh Valley Homeless Veterans Action Committee (LVHVAC), an LVMAC coalition whose membership consists of the leading organizations which address the plight of homeless veterans in Lehigh and Northampton counties and are willing to combine their efforts with those of the local Allentown VA Outpatient Clinic’s homeless team, whether or not they are VA contractors. The committee was formed out of the belief that in order to be successful, outreach, assistance and recovery efforts required more integration and the use of a continuum of care approach in the Lehigh Valley. There was also a need for a forum where these organizations could sometimes problem-solve together with the local VA. (more…)
Forward Observer
Forward Observer — Calling All Veterans. Need Your Help for a Good North Valley PIT Count
Recently we learned the Lehigh Valley Regional Homeless Advisory Board (LVRHAB) is conducting a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homeless point-in-time survey the evening of 24 January extending through 25 January.
HUD is the government agency overseeing home mortgage lending practices and is centrally involved in solving the issue of homelessness by the nature of its purpose. Every year it conducts a Point in Time (PIT) Count of the un-housed on the predicted coldest day of the year. The count involves seeking out those who are unsheltered and those in emergency shelters or transitional shelters — that is, homeless households. The numbers obtained are important to HUD’s reporting of its accomplishments and to their funding practices. But as its name may imply, its tendency is to focus geographically on urban areas. (more…)
Tidbits
LVMAC Tidbit — United Veterans of Lehigh County Closes Up Shop (Food for Thought II)
On the heels of the previous Tidbit, comes this sad news: “Veterans Day flag-raising ceremonies are always poignant and grow more so by the year, because the crowds that attend them have grown smaller and smaller and the unifying feeling evoked by the flag has likewise been shrinking.” (Dan Sheehan, Read more…