The VA Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Office of Financial Management (OFM) collaborates and serves as a partner with VBA Lines of Business to identify fraud, waste, and abuse within programs and to develop and implement solutions. Of greatest concern to OFM are scam tactics targeting veterans. The tactics include those that create fake identities impersonating government officials, phishing attacks (fake emails, text messages, post cards), payment requests via nontraditional means, and building trust through social […]

With its now 80-year history, it is only natural to imagine that BVA would have forged ongoing relationships with scores of national organizations throughout those years. Such has certainly been the case. Our National Headquarters receives regular newsletters, magazines, and other informative media from both sister Veterans Service Organizations and from organizations of and for the blind. One such publication, Your Eyes Today, is received monthly from the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington. […]

The end of the upcoming weekend will mark another in a long series of birthdays for the Air Force Reserve and all who have contributed to its success throughout the journey. The Reserve, which has vowed throughout its history to be mission ready and fully deployable within 72 hours, celebrates its 77th birthday on Monday (April 14). Reservists in every branch of the military are an important part of the Department of Defense’s strategy for […]

The BVA Auxiliary (BVAA) Scholarship Committee has reinstated the Renee Feldman Scholarship Program. BVAA awards three scholarships per academic year, two for $2,000 and one for $1,500 made in two installments, fall and spring. Applicants must be a spouse or a generational child (child, grandchild, great-grandchild) of a blinded veteran who is or has been a BVA member. Renee Feldman, for whom the program is named, was herself a World War II U.S. Army veteran, […]

Consider participating in “Carrying The Load” by walking a small piece of a 20,000-mile cross-country relay trek honoring the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. military and interred in VA National Cemeteries. Along one of five routes, marches will carry signs, banners, and flags honoring a veteran, service member, or first responder. The Carry the Load march, coordinated through a partnership with VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA) and the Travis […]

On March 6, VA announced the deployment of the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) system at nine additional medical facilities in 2026 but indicated that the announcement of the locations would be delayed until later this year. Less than four weeks later, the sites were presented as follows on March 31 with four of the nine to be deployed within the state of Ohio and three in Indiana.  The nine are: Fort Thomas, Kentucky; Cincinnati, […]

Throughout its 80 years of service to blind and now low vision veterans, BVA has been the beneficiary of hundreds of thousands of hours logged by countless volunteers, many of whom have been veterans themselves in service to one another as they practice the organization’s motto—blinded veterans helping blinded veterans. April is National Volunteer Month, celebrating the larger-than-life impact volunteers have had on United States history as they serve individuals, often one by one and […]

Members of BVA’s Greater Houston Regional Group gathered last Friday at one of the city’s 12 popular Health Department Multi-Purpose Centers to celebrate BVA’s 80th anniversary. Stephanie Haechten, representing the City of Houstons Mayor’s Office, read a proclamation from Mayor John Whitmire and presented it to Regional Group President Armsted J. Chambers and Vice President Regina Haynesworth Thurston.  BVA National Vice President Wade Davis presented a historical overview of the Association and Past National President […]

The BVA Auxiliary (BVAA) Scholarship Committee has reinstated the Renee Feldman Scholarship Program. BVAA awards three scholarships per academic year, two for $2,000 and one for $1,500 made in two installments, fall and spring. Applicants must be a spouse or a generational child (child, grandchild, great-grandchild) of a blinded veteran who is or has been a BVA member. Renee Feldman, for whom the program is named, was herself a World War II U.S. Army veteran, […]

The Spring series of the Gardening Interest Group facilitated by Monique Statham blooms Monday, April 14, and continues weekly until May 12. Open to all blind and low vision veterans via Zoom on Monday evenings at 6:00pm Eastern Time, the series will focus on planting seeds, preparing the gardening areas in the ground and in containers, and the growing and harvesting process. At BVA Happenings press time, abundant space for participants is still available. The […]