Weekly Report 🎖
Major Haynes Florida Veterans History Program | Women Veterans Unite | Google Veterans Career Week | General Chappie James Memorial
The Major John Leroy Haynes Florida Veterans’ History Program collects, preserves, and shares the stories of Florida’s Veterans and the State of Florida’s military contributions throughout the nation’s history. By documenting Veterans’ personal narratives, the program ensures their firsthand experiences remain accessible to the public and future generations. For more information, click here
Video of the Week
This video brought to you by the Veritable Veteran
Attention Veterans
June 10-12 is Google Veterans Career Week, a free three-day virtual event offering Veterans, military spouses and service members the tools, support and advice needed to advance their careers. Register by June 6 to attend.
Panels diving deep into 10+ functions and industries with 30+ external companies.
Exclusive fireside chats between C-level leaders from Google.
Free hands-on training including private 1:1 resume reviews with Googlers.
Also, share this LinkedIn post with your network!
See you there!
Happy Weekend Everyone:
At yesterday's Legal Clinic at Lk Ella (Thursday), our volunteer team
totaled 19 (including 6 attorneys, assisting 15 Veterans and family
members. Veterans' legal issues this week again included different county
and state jurisdictions outside Leon, and requests included Georgia criminal
cases, child support problems, driver's license reinstatements, divorces,
housing, benefits, real estate, consumer fraud, wills...6 additional
Veterans called last evening. And thank you for the consistent volunteer
administrative work at the front door and computer/files tables, Khalid,
Kathy, & Margaret today, with Susie throughout our Clinic sessions. Kudos
to Khalid Shafi, Eddie McMillian, Chris Bodiford & Dave Gerourd for the
food distribution Wednesday to Grace Mission, Vet Village, Kenwood Apts,
and Good Samaritan.
Memorial Day services were inspiring Saturday and Monday, and
hundreds of Veterans, families, elected officials, etc. joined, including
more than a hundred at IMAX for a viewing of the HONOR Flight 2025
remembrances and the award-winning documentary from 2023 "A Veteran's
Journey: Honor Flight Tallahassee."
If you haven't seen it, the youtube is great:
https://www.honorflighttallahassee.org/
Honor Flight Tallahassee -
Honor Flight Tallahassee is part of the Honor Flight Network, a national
organization that is unwavering in their quest to ensure each veteran has
the chance to tour the memorials built in appreciation of their service.
More info is coming out on the cuts to VA, which could gut billions over the
next decade, while we are helping additional Veterans access the VA benefits
they deserve and need. Advocates fear fewer doctors, longer wait times,
diminished care for PTSD, suicide prevention and chronic conditions, and
likely "hollowing out the VA system" for for-profit providers, decreasing
specialized care.
Reprise: Nationally, specific budget cuts to our country's "safety net"
were passed through their first chamber of Congress, despite the bipartisan
opposition from citizens, agencies and elected officials from both parties.
VA's job freeze and cuts are still rolling out, despite more Vets getting
added to the health care system under the expanded disability benefits laws
enacted in recent years.
Locally, VA's housing program is soon to have a vacancy (a retirement) with
no opportunity for new staffing, and medical folks have now been warning
Vets of lengthy delays in referrals to specialists, etc: Call your friends
who work for the federal VA to let them know they're appreciated and give
them your contact info in case they lose their VA cell number amidst the
funding cuts, layoffs and firings that are including probationary employees,
as well as former military Veterans in a variety of specialties (and the
latest projections target some 84,000 VA jobs and programs to be cut!)
And be sure to let us know about parttime job opportunities for Veterans on
subsistence, as well as any emergency housing, shared rentals, etc. since
housing is still scarce and services are delayed via waiting lists. A
FLORIDA SENATOR SUMMARIZED VA'S NEEDS AGAIN (on the Senate floor): more than 952,000 claims have been pending longer than 125 days, including 23,900 in
Florida; the backlog is still more than 241,000 including claims that go
back DECADES. (The VFW-supported bill he sponsored did pass the legislature
and is on its way to the Governor SB910/HB277).
I've been asked to re-send this link for people who missed it (in their
spam folder last week): We can finally forward to you the link for the WCTV
interview that broadcast last month
https://www.wctv.tv/2025/05/01/local-nonprofit-protecting-veterans-interest
s-promoting-justice-tallahassee/
https://www.wctv.tv/2025/05/01/local-nonprofit-protecting-veterans-interests
-promoting-justice-tallahassee/ tease Susie, John Linney, Craig Winger and
me for looking too serious.
What else?
Thank you,
Dan Hendrickson, for the Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative
General Chappie James Memorial
There is a memorial in Pensacola which needs funding and support from the State of Florida and Washington DC. I am sharing these slides so the members of the coalition can pull strings, make phone calls and/or help this organization to finally get the General Chappie James Memorial completed. Enough with the politics! Honor this man’s legacy! We have recruiting challenges which can be addressed simply by inspiring the next generation of Americans to serve their country!
Make it happen Coalition!
SAVE THE DATE - 10th ANNUAL FLHSMV VETERANS’ RECOGNITION DAY
FLHSMV Annual Veterans Recognition Day will be Friday, June 13, 2025, at 12 noon. Kirkman Building. Tables from Veteran Organizations will be set up at 11 am. Stay tuned for more information.
· Save the Date of June 13 at noon for the FLHSMV 9th Annual Veteran Recognition Day.
· Veterans Organizations will be there by 11:00 am.
· Presentation of colors and meeting will begin at noon.
· Niel Kirkman Building
· Conference Rooms B202 and B203 - Presentations
· Conference Room B201 – Veteran Organizations
· If any military/veteran/support organizations would like to attend and set up a display at a table, please email me at craigbenner@flhsmv.gov.
· Find out what’s happening with our Veterans and get some free cake.