Presented by Debbie Rozear, Supervisor of Core & Housing Services, and Al-Nisha McFadden, Veteran Community Support Coordinator, of the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living (LVCIL) to the council at its 17 May 2023 meeting, LVCIL is one result of a movement (later known as the Independent Living Movement) in the Read more…
As we reported in a 19 September blog, Bethany United Methodist Church located in the Macungie/Wescoville area, intended to conduct two workshops to promote a better understanding of PTSD with the ultimate intention of starting a peer-to-peer support group afterwards.
As a result of those meetings, we have learned that the church has started two of these types of support groups instead: one for male veterans and another for women, whether veterans or spouses or ‘significant others’ — which makes this group unique to the valley when looked at from a veteran’s context. (more…)
Hello LVMAC friends,
I want to share news about a training we are helping to coordinate – specifically for those working with veterans who are suffering with substance use disorders. Treatment Trends is collaborating with Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance (PRO-A) to offer a Special Training Opportunity:
On Friday, November 1, 2019, “Serving Those who SERVED” training will be offered at Cetronia Ambulance Corps, 4300 Broadway, Allentown, PA 18104. (more…)
On 16 August 2017, Lyndsey Antanitis from the Rodale Institute spoke to the Council on its relatively new veterans farming initiative. (more…)
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…
Earlier this year, the relatively new Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) stepped in and righted a wrong over a matter of significance to those veterans who struggle with alcohol or drug use. Its action should not go unnoticed, for it has a deep impact on the way business has been done in the past. (more…)
One of the smaller, gold-nugget programs we help fund as part of our effort to assist veterans is Lehigh Conferences of Church’s Permanent Employment Program (PEP) because its vision entails assisting “chronically unemployed individuals to search for, and obtain, meaningful employment by providing barrier assessment, education, case management, and subsidized work experiences in the Lehigh Valley” – in other words, a holistic, work-oriented approach. In so doing, it can take a veteran who was once unemployed to a state of self-sufficiency through meaningful, permanent employment which does not have to be subsidized. (more…)
Frankly, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seems poor in distributing word or notifying of grant opportunities in the veterans arena. As a consequence, this grant opportunity has been extended beyond its original 13 or 14 February deadline. So, we are taking the unusual step of trying to spread the word, since they have only extended the deadline to 27 February.
An extension has been given to the following grant:
The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) is announcing the availability of up to $750,000 in competitive grants from funds appropriated for Veterans outreach and shall be used for programs providing treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse for Veterans. (more…)
As most already know, Veterans Sanctuary unfortunately is no more. It ceased to be after a troubled ten months of operation last year. The building, which was the physical shell for a sophisticated therapeutic approach to treating our returning war veterans, both men and women, when they suffered from chronic addiction to drugs or alcohol and profound war-induced trauma, figuratively collapsed for lack of local county, state and federal government support – only the City of Allentown had assisted.
But a light still shines. (more…)
Many veterans with a VA-rated disability are unaware they may also be entitled to a Social Security benefit program known as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
Like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) service-connected compensation program, it too has come under congressional scrutiny for its processing times. However, on 19 February Social Security Administration (SSA) officials announced plans to expedite disability claims for individuals with a VA approved, 100 percent disability rating. (more…)