Category Veterans Services
THE ‘THANK-YOU’ NOTES THAT MEAN SO MUCH TO CALVET’S ANALYSTS HELPING INCARCERATED VETERANS
Steven Smith scrolled through his emails one day a few months ago, and came across one that simply moved him. Smith, a United States Navy Veteran, is among the seven veterans claims analysts working directly with incarcerated veterans in California’s 35 state prisons through CalVet’s Justice Involved Veterans Initiative. The analysts help veterans—many imprisoned for […]
CALVET PROGRAM DOES JUSTICE TO THE CONCEPT OF HELPING INCARCERATED VETERANS
Mary Donovan, a veterans claims analyst with CalVet, talked benefits with about 30 veterans in the Sierra foothills community of Ione one recent morning. This wasn’t just any veterans’ group, though. All are inmates at Mule Creek State Prison, and among the more than 5,000 military veterans incarcerated in California’s 34 adult state prisons. Despite […]
OPERATION DRESS CODE DONATION DRIVE RUNS UNTIL JUNE 2
Operation Dress Code is now accepting donations of new and gently used business clothing and accessories to distribute to women veterans during a boutique event in Walnut Creek on June 11. CalVet Women Veterans Affairs is organizing the clothing drive and one-day boutique event. First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom helped kick off this year’s effort. […]
CALVET WEBINAR TO FOCUS ON EDUCATING VETERANS SERVICE PROVIDERS IN OUTREACH TO NATIVE AMERICAN VETERANS IN CALIFORNIA
Last December, the Yurok Tribal Council declared a state of emergency, due to the high number of missing persons and attempted human trafficking incidents that have occurred in Humboldt County. CalVet’s Minority and Underrepresented Veterans Division will host a webinar to expand awareness of this emergency and convene a panel of experts to inform veteran […]
STATE PARKS AND RECREATION AREAS FREE TO DISTINGUISHED VETERAN PASS HOLDERS
California operates nearly 300 state parks and recreation areas that offer forests, beaches, buttes and boating, historic military sites, railroads and everything in between. Of those state properties, all but three – Columbia State Park in Tuolumne County, Great Valley Grasslands State Park in Merced County and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park in the Napa […]
MARINE VETERAN TRANSITIONS FROM ‘COPTER UPKEEP TO BEEKEEPING
As a helicopter mechanic in the military, Jesus Toro’s primary duty involved keeping flying objects flying and performing optimally. Today, the 30-year-old husband, father of three children, and Marine Corps veteran still keeps things flying and performing optimally. He just handles more of them — as in thousands upon thousands more. Toro is a beekeeper […]
PASSION, DUTY, AND A LABOR OF LOVE: HELPING VETERANS AT CALVET IS ALL OF THE ABOVE
For those of us who work at the California Department of Veterans Affairs, however, every day is Veterans Day. It is our passion, our duty, and a labor of love to help veterans in all ways within our means. Many who work for CalVet are veterans themselves — veterans serving veterans. You, too, can make […]
WOMEN’S HISTORY: AIR FORCE VETERAN CHOREOGRAPHING TRANSITIONS TO CIVILIAN LIFE
Carolann Wunderlin can say without hesitation that she danced her way through her time in the United States Air Force. While serving at Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB) in Alaska in 1979, she entered and won base and command-wide talent contests. She went on to become a finalist in the branch’s worldwide “Tops in Blue” […]
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