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BVA Awarded Grant from Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation (RDPFS)

From left to right: BVA Executive Director Tim Hornik, BVA National President Paul Mimms, and BVA National Development Director Meredith Buono-Dagrossa. BVA is pleased to announce the reception of a Reader’s Digest Partners For Sight (RDPFS) grant to support the Association’s Ambassador Program. Consisting of a national network of trained volunteers, the Ambassador Program provides information about benefits and services available to veterans and connects them with resources they can access through BVA, the Department […]

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Upcoming Weekend Shortened by One Hour, Spring Forward Sunday Morning!

Daylight Saving Time is once again upon us with the onset of Spring. In just days, BVA members and their families will lose an hour of sleep if they slumber during their normal hours. With the exception of the states of Arizona and Hawaii, most of the continental United States “springs forward” officially one hour at 2:00am local time on Sunday, March 10. The additional daylight during the evening hours will last until November 3, […]

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BVA Goes to Congress

Paul Mimms visits with former Senator, former Secretary of Labor, and former President of the American Red Cross Elizabeth Dole prior to Wednesday Congressional Hearing. Seated next to Paul at the witness table, Senator Dole offered opening remarks at the hearing in support of caregiver legislation. National President Paul Mimms was in the Nation’s Capital this week to deliver BVA’s oral testimony during a packed session of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs […]

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Successful Town Hall Outlines Upcoming 79th National Convention

View of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel at dusk with windows lit up that spell out USA. BVA members and their families throughout the country gathered virtually via Zoom yesterday for the first of several Town Hall meetings with National Headquarters staff relating to the upcoming BVA 79th National Convention at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville (Florida) Riverfront Hotel (see adjacent photo).  The official dates for the BVA business portion of the convention are July […]

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Black History Month: A Look into Service, Sacrifice of African American Veterans

BVA is pleased to join other Veterans Service Organizations in the celebration of Black History Month throughout February. In doing so, the Association recognizes the service of African Americans who have served in every conflict since the American Revolution.  More particularly, we acknowledge and pay tribute to our African American members of BVA who have bravely fought in defense of our freedoms and are now challenged by sight loss. Many of them continue to serve […]

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Next Week’s VetTech to Focus on Clew

Join BVA’s VetTech team on Wednesday, February 7, at 2:00pm Eastern Time, for our Weekly Wednesday Webinar as we welcome Dr. Paul Ruvolo, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Olin College of Engineering and the developer of Clew, an indoor path tracing navigation app. Dr. Paul Ruvolo’s work focuses on leveraging smartphone technology to create assistive technology for the blind.  Professor Ruvolo and his student research group developed the free app, which allows people to […]

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BVA Instrumental in Securing OIG Audit on VA Accessibility, Findings Motivate Calls to Action

The Blinded Veterans Association is currently expressing deep uneasiness over the recently released Office of Inspector General (OIG) report highlighting insufficient compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This crucial legislation of the past mandates accessibility of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for individuals with disabilities such as blind and low vision veterans.  OIG conducted the audit to address direct concerns from Congress and […]

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Date Now Set to Present Legislative Priorities before Congress

On March 6, 2024, BVA National President Paul Mimms will present testimony on behalf of our Association before a joint session of the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs. Paul will be joined by leaders of other Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) advocating for, and against, policies and laws affecting their respective organizations. This event is, frankly, the most important of all events when it comes to BVA’s ability to effectively advocate on behalf of […]

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A Holiday Message from National President Paul Mimms

As I compose this special message, we on the Blinded Veterans Association’s Board of Directors have finished up our first trimester of service to the organization. There have been several things that have happened during that short period of four months, for which we can be both grateful and, on the other hand, challenged by some of the complexities facing us. Collectively, we have encountered cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and other maladies. We have had children […]

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A Look Back: BVA’s Outreach to War-Torn Europe 76 Years Ago

During the holiday season of 1947, with BVA not even yet three years old, members of the Association and their families helped the people of war-torn Europe through CARE, an acronym at the time for “Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, Inc.” CARE sent millions of packages from the United States for delivery to friends, relatives, and specified groups or persons in Europe. It was a government-approved service composed of 27 relief agencies and the […]