Category CalVet Team

MEET THE LINCs: ‘LINC’-ING VETERANS TO SERVICES REQUIRES NEW APPROACHES FOR CALVET’S EIGHT REGIONAL OUTREACH PROFESSIONALS
California’s nearly 1.6 million veterans share another common link – eight of them, in fact. The California Department of Veterans Affairs’ Local Interagency Network Coordinators, or LINCs, support veterans by connecting them to their earned benefits and services.

IN THEIR HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: ANOTHER CALVET SUCCESS STORY
A few weeks ago, U.S. Army veteran Eric Ornelas and his September bride, Marie, went shopping for lights and other Christmas decorations. For some homeowners, that means picking up more LED strings as they strive to make their homes visible from the International Space Station. Others might scour the clearance racks after the holidays to […]

CALVET’S WEBINARS KEEP INFORMATION FLOWING DESPITE COVID-19 CLOSURES
Over six years ago, CalVet began offering a series of webinars to provide information important to California veterans and their families. While important then, they are even more vital today. Consequently, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and effectively shut down in-person outreach and veterans events, CalVet already had the experience, technology, and audience to expand […]

CLIENT’S DETERMINATION, DEDICATION TO HER FAMILY DREW AGENT’S RESPECT, ADMIRATION, AND A CALVET HOME LOAN
Nearly two dozen photographs adorn a wall next to Lesa Walker’s desk in CalVet’s Home Loans Division in Sacramento. Each picture is special to Walker, who joined CalVet as an associate property agent in 2014. They are photos of veterans and their families who became clients, but also became her friends, her extended family, her […]

BROTHERS IN ARMS, BROTHERS IN PARADISE: REBUILDING FROM THE CAMP FIRE DEVASTATION
On the morning of November 8, 2018, as Shane Murray drove from his new home in Paradise to work in Oroville, he looked into his rear-view mirror and saw a plume of smoke billowing against an otherwise azure sky. By the time he told his boss he needed to return home to evacuate – that […]

PIONEER, TRAILBLAZER: VIRGINIA MAE DAYS WAS ONE OF A KIND AS CALVET DIRECTOR
NOTE: As we honor women veterans during Women’s History Month, CalVet remembers one of its own. The late Virginia Mae Days served as CalVet’s director from 1975-81, retiring more than a decade before CalVet became a cabinet level department headed by a secretary. Her story, published on CalVet Connect last fall, bears repeating. In a […]

VETERAN HOMES ARCHITECT LARRY SILLMAN LEAVES LEGACY OF CREATIVITY AND COMFORT
Architect Larry Sillman might be easing into retirement, but he leaves his footprints and blueprints all over the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) Veterans Homes of California (VHC) system. The 75-year-old Vietnam veteran from Chula Vista designed four of the eight homes operated by CalVet. He also played a role in the creation of […]

CalVet Secretary Imbasciani reappointed by Governor Newsom, will continue to lead agency dedicated to helping veterans
CalVet is excited to announce that Secretary Vito Imbasciani MD has been reappointed to the position by Governor Gavin Newsom. “I thank Governor Newsom for the opportunity to continue to lead CalVet,” Imbasciani said. “It remains an honor for me to serve California’s nearly 1.6 million veterans. I am fueled by the sacred mission of […]

New CalVet deputy secretary for minority veterans affairs brings skills in triplicate
The California Department of Veterans Affairs hit a trifecta last month when Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Xóchitl Rodriguez Murillo to be the agency’s deputy secretary for minority veterans affairs. Murillo is a minority veteran and a U.S. Army reservist who is well-versed in the machinations of the military, having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She’s […]