Category CalVet Team
New administrator brings “will-do” attitude to Veterans Home of California-Yountville
Lisa Peake believes that whether you are sent to Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else, attitude makes the difference between drudgery and doable. “If you say ‘this deployment is going to be horrible,’ it will,” said Peake, who retired from the California National Guard as a “full-bird colonel” in May, ending a 30-year career in […]
Veterans with CalVet home loans among those sorting out their futures in Paradise
Navy veteran Jim Davis saw an ominous sky as he headed out to the woodwork shop at his home in Paradise one morning in November 2018. “A really strange cloud,” he said. Davis sensed immediately that it soon would be raining fire, not water. He packed up what he could, then quickly left his property. […]
Indigestible field chows become culinary masterpieces at CalVet’s MRE Cooking Challenge
What did we learn about a Meal Ready-to-Eat? That it can’t stump the experts, or at least not during CalVet’s 7th MRE Cooking Challenge at the California State Fair on Thursday. They turned the virtually indestructible and — to some in the military – indigestible field sustenance known as the Meal-Ready-to-Eat into works of culinary […]
Military veterans, chefs mobilize for CalVet’s 7th Annual MRE Cooking Challenge
Can military sustenance become scrumptious? Can drab be transformed into delectable? See for yourself at CalVet’s 7th Annual MRE Cooking Challenge, Thursday July 18 at the California State Fair, an event that promises to be tastefully done. The Challenge pairs military veterans and noted local chefs as they look to impress a panel of culinary […]
Memories of D-Day and beyond: Veterans Home resident got there early, stayed late
Nick Scordino seems to have a knack for notable days. A resident of the Veterans Home of California-West Los Angeles, he turned 97 years old on Memorial Day 2019. His last day in the Army Air Corps happened to be Thanksgiving Day 1945, six months after the Germans surrendered in World War II. And, according […]
Landmark riot launches LGBTQ movement. Fifty years of activism leads to LGBTQ Veterans Inclusion Forum.
June 28 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. For six days in 1969, LGBTQ individuals who frequented the Stonewall Inn, a gay and lesbian bar in Manhattan’s West Village, rebelled against the harassment by the New York police who kept raiding it. They resisted, long before “resist” became a political […]
CalVet wins 2019 Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence Award
Last week, CalVet Secretary Vito Imbasciani and Deputy Secretary for Veterans Services Keith Boylan attended the mid-winter conference of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs in Washington D.C. They were presented with the 2019 Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence Award in Innovation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the California […]
Immediate resources available for those affected by the government shutdown
The partial federal government shutdown is now the longest ever, and it is affecting many veterans and their families in California. CalVet is sharing resources to assist federal workers during this shutdown. EDD provides assistance to furloughed employees At the direction of Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) is streamlining the processing […]
CalVet hosts Tribal Veteran Representative Training Jan. 23-24 in San Diego
California is home to more American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) veterans than nearly any other state in the nation. Yet this population remains one of the most underserved. CalVet is partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the County of San Diego to host a two-day advocacy training on veteran benefits and services […]
Dr. Imbasciani shares his Veterans Day message
Among the great days of national remembrance, none is more deeply moving to me than the eleventh of November, and this year presents a special centenary as we recognize the 100-year anniversary of the 1918 Armistice. Following more than four years of fighting, the World War I Armistice went into effect at the eleventh hour […]
