This week with talk with a few organizations that are supporting Veterans.  
▪️State Treasury-Welcome Home Bonuses
▪️New England Center and Home for Veterans
▪️Mike Raymond, Past State Commander for the VFW
▪️SAR: Suicide Awareness Flag

This week on Western Mass Veterans Radio  we discussed Governor Maura T. Healey’s filed legislation to increase benefits, modernize services and promote inclusivity for Massachusetts veterans. An Act Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Servicemembers and Veterans (HERO Act) will have positive impacts for hundreds of thousands of veterans living in Massachusetts, including nearly 30,000 women veterans and thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans. This historic legislation marks the first time in 20 years that a Massachusetts Governor has specifically introduced a comprehensive and expansive legislative package dedicated to the welfare of veterans.  

This week we talked with Jason Berger, VSO of Eastern Hampden District, Ally Rodriquez, VSO Taunton MA, and Kim Emerling, VSO of Salem, MA.  We get their propective as VSOs and learn what they do in their communities. 

Uniting Food, Friends, and Veterans

Hosting Veteran Communities Of Mutual Support, Camaraderie And Gratitude Around Complimentary Meals At Fifteen Sites In New England

Building Bridges has organically evolved from a single site experiment to gather a handful of veterans, to an organized network of fifteen sites in four New England states, all in pursuit of the same mission: to address veteran social isolation, depression and suicide ideation by building veteran communities of mutual support and healing.

This week we talk with Patrick George,  President of the Massachusetts Veterans Services Officers Association and Watertown, MA VSO.   He talks about  the association, its mission, and vision for the future. 


 

As the Veterans needs change with age, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will provide benefits and services that address a variety of issues including the changing health risks they face, as well as financial challenges through VA benefits and health services. Elderly Veterans may be eligible for a wide-variety of benefits and we discuss these programs. 

Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, it is WAA mission to Remember, Honor and Teach and its carried out by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at more than 4,000+ locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad. 

The Medic Now Foundation broadens health care access for our military families, veterans, and active duty service members
​by easing the burden of out-of-pocket expenses through our "Healthcare Cost Assistance Program (HCAP).

The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.

Until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 30, 2023, Veterans who deployed to a combat zone, never enrolled in VA health care and left the military between Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2013, are eligible to enroll directly in VA health care through the PACT Act.This special enrollment period gives Veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones an opportunity to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for disability compensation benefits. 

You Are Not Forgotten -- that's the central phrase behind the POW/MIA remembrance movement that honors America's prisoners of war, those who are still missing in action and their families.

Many of our service members suffered as prisoners of war during several decades of varying conflicts. While some of them made it home, tens of thousands more never did.