🎖️ Weekly Report

Patriot Shave | TVLC | DAV | Chili Champion | Holidays for Heroes

Jan 26, 2025

VSO Needed—Holidays For Heroes Mission

Here is a message from the founder.

If the Christmas Tree giveaway is going to happen in December 2025, a few important things need to happen:

Find a 501C that will handle the donations to avoid IRS liabilities (VVA is no longer willing to do this). This should be accomplished in the next Month or so to be successful

Find a supplier for the Trees. Just Fruits & Exotics charged about $65-$70 per tree last year (depending on height) This should be accomplished in the next month or so to be successful

Start fundraising! This should start about March 1st to be successful

Determine the amount of trees the fundraising will support. Most suppliers need a number no later than Aug (check with the Supplier for exact date). Historically about 60 will be the demand for the Leon County area.

Identify how the Trees will be picked up and stored until the Event. In the past 5 Gal buckets have been used to keep them hydrated from pick-up until the day of the event.

Identify which Media Outlets will be used to promote the Event. In the past WCTV (Julie Montanero), 93.3FM (Greg Tish), and WFLA (Preston Scott) have all been very friendly to the event

I may be forgetting a few things, so if y'all have any questions feel free to ask.

v/r

Keith

Commanders Coalition Chili Champion

I sent out an email last week asking if the Coalition wanted to hold a championship chili cook-off between the VSO winners, 90% of respondents said yes.

I will bring this up at our next meeting in February. We will need to decide on the best time for it.

Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative

Happy Snow Day!

Predictions were that no one would be coming to Thursday’s Legal Clinic at Lake Ella, but 9 of us volunteers went over there just in case (including 4 attys) 7 Veterans did show up, plus several family members! (we need more attorneys volunteering at the clinic, since referrals to other offices are not easy and delay Veterans’ getting answers and the expertise they need). A TPD officer patrolling the area stopped by and helped us shovel the ice out front of the American Legion.

More Vets called in again this week or responded online from around the state, and we instructed them to come to Thursday Clinics or, if outside Leon or the State, to look for local Veteran services. Thanks to Susie C. and Omar Guzman-Toro for helping respond to this week’s phone and website calls for help/info (Veterans in prison, NW Fl, etc.). And thanks to Khalid Shafi and Margaret Deciano for the volunteer administrative work at the computer/files table with Susie throughout our Clinic sessions.

Despite earlier promises, disappointing talk out of Washington, where Congressional budget work revived the talk about cutting VA programs, which were already placed on an immediate hiring freeze this week. (Not to mention Medicare, Medicaid, SS). We need to let each other know about parttime job opportunities for Veterans on subsistence, as well as any emergency housing, shared rentals, etc.

Veterans Treatment Court is this Monday at 3 pm, first session for new County Judge LaShawn Riggins. We still need more Veteran Mentors to give one on one contact with the Vets trying to recover from substances or other treatment needs. (Courtroom 2E in the Monroe St Courthouse.)

What else?

Thank you,

Dan Hendrickson, for the Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative

Please add your support for H.R. 210, the Dental Care for Veterans Act. This bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to furnish dental care in the same manner as any other medical service, and defines a 4-year implementation plan beginning with veterans in Priority Groups 1 and 2.

Currently, the VA only provides full dental care services to a limited number of veterans enrolled in its health care system, which includes those who have a service-connected dental disability, are 100% service disabled and those receiving Total Disability for Individual Unemployability (TDIU). In total, only about 500,000 of the 9 million veteran enrollees in the VA health care system have eligibility for dental care.

Studies show that poor dental hygiene can lead to a number of chronic health conditions, including infections from decaying and dying teeth, which can be life-threatening if not treated. Dental care has been proven to be an important part of overall health care. VA is considered a comprehensive health care system for veterans and the lack of basic dental care is a major gap in the whole health model VA care subscribes to.

This legislation is consistent with DAV Resolution No. 41, which calls for the provision of comprehensive dental care to all service-disabled veterans within the VA health care system. Therefore, DAV strongly supports this bill.

Urge your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 210, the Dental Care for Veterans Act.

Thank you for your support of the DAV’s legislative priorities.