Today, we celebrate Halloween. This will unleash costumes, candy, and lots of celebrations. While hounds love Halloween, the tradition can bring hazards to our four-legged friends. The following constitute five safety tips and “tails” to keep all our furry friends safe while still “pawtaking” in the fun: Costumes should be safe, comfortable, and never cover a working vest or harness.  Keep candy and toxic foods like chocolate and xylitol far from our reach. Doorbells, visitors, […]

In November 2023, VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP) made history when the initiative reached the goal of one million veterans enrolled in VA’s largest health research effort ever. The achievement paved the way to improved veteran health and wellness in both the near and distant future. Despite the milestone that many believed was the crowning achievement of MVP, the initiative lives on. Additional programs and more efforts to reach out to individual veterans and Veterans […]

Please consider attending a VA Veterans Day Regional Activity near you this November 11. Earlier this year, VA and the Veterans Day National Committee (VDNC) invited cities, towns, and nonprofit groups across the country to join VA in showing appreciation for veterans by applying to hold VA-recognized regional Veterans Day observances that would ensure fitting tributes to America’s heroes. In 2025, 56 communities across 28 states will host VA-recognized Veterans Day observances. Each regional site […]

The Armed Services YMCA established Veterans & Military Families Month in 1996. The U.S. Government has recognized the occasion every year since. Each November, the President signs a proclamation declaring November National Veterans & Military Families Month, and with hundreds of thousands of service members deployed overseas, recognizing the daily sacrifices made by active duty, Guard, and Reserve military families has never been more important. The same applies to American veterans, the number of which […]

With the Fall season now nearly halfway complete, the Daylight-Saving Time ritual of “falling back” in time has arrived. The time change will officially occur this Sunday, November 2, at 2:00am local time. Because the change in time, both morning and night, dictates when the sky is lit and when it is dark, sleep habits naturally come into play. Light and darkness are the most powerful timing cues for alertness and sleepiness in the human body. […]

Families are usually the primary source of support for veterans with sight loss. The same is true for older Americans as well as people with other disabilities. In fact, more than 53 million family caregivers provide unpaid care in the United States today. That is an economic value totaling more than $470 billion. The importance of family caregivers explains why National Family Caregivers Month is celebrated every November. While family caregivers should be recognized every day for […]

The fifth and now second-to-last session of the Fall Gardening series, organized and led by BVA National Treasurer Monique Statham, will occur this Monday, November 3, via Zoom. The session will announce the winner of the much-heralded scarecrow contest and feature guest speaker Raushanah Echols. She will address the topic of Winter Sowing. In addition, due to popular demand, Monique has determined to add a previously unscheduled sixth session on November 10 in the same […]

Darwin Belt, co-founder and manager of WayAround, will be the featured guest speaker at next Tuesday evening’s BVA Auxiliary (BVAA) Town Hall. Darwin has a truly amazing and inspirational life story. The meeting, held customarily every two months on the first Tuesday, will begin at 8:00pm Eastern Time. Please click here or on the full link below to join. For further information, contact BVAA National President Kenneth Witt at bvaanationalpresident@gmail.com or at 910-633-5983. Kenneth Witt is […]

For BVA members and their families who celebrate the holiday, Happy Halloween! Come tomorrow morning, those with leftover candy or excess candy collected from trick-or-treating can donate it to support a good cause, that of providing a few sweets to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers, Military installations, and Guard/Reserve units that have registered and been approved to receive the collected candy. Soldiers’ Angels Treats for Troops is a Halloween Candy collection program where local […]

Extreme sports athlete, National Geographic 2015 Adventurer of the Year, former Navy Petty Officer 1st Class, and BVA member Lonnie Bedwell has made his dream of reaching the highest peak on each of the Earth’s seven continents a reality, the first blind person ever to do so. On October 17, he and his companions made it to the top of Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya in Indonesian, literally meaning Victorious Peak), the last on his “beyond […]