Couple traveling from Guam to run in Coast Guard races | Local News
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sport
Veterans: Operation Magic Touch helps those suffering from PTSD | Guest Columns
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Twenty-two a day — suicides have plagued our veterans for many years. While the causes of suicide are complex and not fully understood, military leaders and community members continue to search for answers in combating this unfortunate number. The COVID-19 pandemic has added additional stressors to an already strained force as well. Our military forces these past two years were called upon to support testing and vaccine clinics while struggling with the virus themselves, with their families and friends. They also dealt with continued war-zone deployments, national disasters and often violent civil unrest.
Each community offers a variety of counseling programs to help our veterans as they work through the road to recovery. Some of the programs offered are traditional counseling sessions, music therapy and outdoor adventure. One Rhode Island Army veteran, Jason Morel, has come up with an alternative program incorporating the world of magic and laughter.
In 2017, Jason founded Operation Magic Touch, dedicated to helping veterans and their families through magic. Morel created his magic show to be a safe form of entertainment for veterans who suffer from PTSD and their families. From a young age this veteran began his studies with magic. Upon his discharge from the Army, Jason continued his studies as a means of combating his PTSD.
Each year the National Veterans Arts Competition is conducted. Veterans who are enrolled at VA health care facilities are eligible to compete. In 2019, Jason entered the competition and placed second in his division with his magic show. That year, over 5,600 veterans representing 130 VA medical facilities competed. Jason’s placement was the highest for any participant representing the Providence VAMC.
Jason is now on a journey to aid veterans and their families through his magic. The public is invited to see this veteran in action on March 12 for a steak dinner and magic show at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9404, 29 South Main Street, Coventry. The dinner begins at 5 p.m., followed by Jason’s spectacular magic show at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling 401-828-9705. All proceeds will go to VFW Post 9404 to assist Jason Morel with his objective of helping his fellow veterans and families.
St Patrick’s Special Corned Beef Dinner
Come and enjoy a St Patrick’s traditional corned beef dinner, with all the trimmings, on March 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. You have the choice of dining in or take-out, $20 a plate, at Amancio-Falcone-Gaccione VFW Post 8955, 113 Beach St., Westerly.
Auxiliary announces visit of national president to R.I.
VFW Auxiliary Department of Rhode Island is excited to announce the visit of Jean Hamil, national president of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Auxiliary. Hamil will tour the Rhode Island State Capitol and the Rhode Island Office of Veterans Services, enjoy dinner at the Valley Inn in Portsmouth, and take a helicopter tour of Aquidneck Island.
The VFW Auxiliary Past Department Presidents’ Club will host a dinner at Davenport’s in East Providence, upon Hamil’s. Her visit will include speaking with VFW and Auxiliary members in Pawtucket and throughout Rhode Island. VFW Auxiliary Department President Shauna Fournier will serve as her official escort.
President Hamil, of Orlando, Fla., was elected to office at the Auxiliary’s 108th National Convention in Kansas City, Mo. For more information, contact GinaMarie Doherty, VFW Auxiliary Rhode Island, Historian, [email protected], 401-500-1721.
About the VFW Auxiliary: The VFW Auxiliary is one of the nation’s oldest veterans’ service organizations and our members are the relatives of those who served in a location of foreign conflict. We have nearly 470,000 members representing all 50 states who volunteer millions of hours and give millions of dollars to support veterans, military service personnel and their families. Learn more at www.vfwauxiliary.org.
Amancio-Falcone-Gaccione VFW Post 8955
New members are always welcome to attend our next monthly meeting on March 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Post Home, 113 Beach St, Westerly. Voice of Democracy winners will present their winning essays at this meeting. The Post meets the first Wednesday of each month. The three qualifiers for membership in the VFW: Citizenship — U.S. citizen or U.S. National; honorable service — received a discharge of Honorable or General (Under Honorable Conditions); or be currently serving, service in a war, campaign, or expedition on foreign soil or in hostile waters, or service in Korea for 30 consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days.
Project Outreach
The mission of Project Outreach is to assist all veterans to gain access to the VA and eligibility for all benefits and programs they offer. The program is staffed by certified Chapter Service Officers that have attended the yearly Disabled American Veterans training. The service officer provides the proper VA forms and guidance to properly complete required documents to then ensure that they have proper representation at the VA. If a veteran is not in the VA system, he/she or their family are not eligible for all the great services and benefits the VA offers. Hours: VFW Post 8955, first Wednesday and third Monday of each month, 5 p.m.
Prayers of peace to Ukraine
“Pray for Ukraine!”
“May God hear our loving petitions and soften the hearts and minds of all, those within and outside Ukraine, during these dangerous times,” wrote the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Council of Bishops, in a statement responding to news of the Russian invasion this week.
PHOTO GALLERY | Steelers legend Rocky Bleier visits Johnstown, raises funds for veterans | News
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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – If Rocky Bleier had been a Purple Heart recipient who never played professional football, he still would have been admired in the Johnstown region for the sacrifices he made for his country.
And if Bleier had only been a four-time Super Bowl champion with the gritty, blue-collar 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, without ever serving a day in the military, he still would have been a beloved local sports figure.
But he did both.
And when you put those shiny rings together with that distinguished medal, you get a man who Jean Desrochers, 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial’s general manager, referred to as “a true American badass.”
On Friday, Bleier told stories from his life in the Army and the National Football League during a banquet hosted by the Johnstown Tomahawks hockey team to raise money for the arena’s Veterans Committee.
Bleier started the event by recalling his days in the military and paying tribute to folks who support local veterans.
“Obviously, veterans’ issues are very important to me, having been a veteran myself, especially during that period of time where, we’re old enough, going through the Vietnam era and then the return of those service people … that unfortunately were tied to the conflict, rather than to the service to his country, and were looked down upon and not given recognition,” Bleier told a packed house at the Holiday Inn Johnstown-Downtown.
“Because (of) the fact that I had the opportunity to come back into a high-profile industry, at least I could be somewhat of a spokesperson for the veterans’ issues thereafter.”
Bleier joined the Steelers in 1968, playing one season before being drafted into the Army and sent off to the Vietnam War. He was injured by gunfire and grenade shrapnel, causing leg damage so severe that he was told his football career was over.
He received a message soon thereafter from the Steelers’ owner.
“I got a postcard in the mail, simple postcard, and it had two lines on it,” Bleier said. “It said this: ‘Rock, team’s not doing well. We need you. – Art Rooney.’ Somebody needed me. Now, he didn’t really need me. But somebody took the time to care, and it’s the impact that we have on people and one another that really makes a difference.”
Bleier returned to the NFL, playing from 1971 to 1980. He regaled the audience with stories from his playing days, including the Immaculate Reception, which he said “was the start of a belief system that we could be in the big game and we had the personnel to be able to do that. That became very, very important for us.”
And he recalled greeting Rooney in the locker room after the Steelers won their first world championship in Super Bowl IX.
“I was the first one to get to hug him and thank him for getting us there,” Bleier said.
Bleier looked back on his college days, too, when he played alongside Johnstown’s Pete Duranko at Notre Dame, winning the 1966 national championship.
“Those stories that you have heard about Pete are all true,” Bleier said. “He was a character. He was funny. He had a great, great, great sense of humor all the way.”
Bleier provided some thoughts about the Steelers’ future following the retirement of longtime franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, leaving Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins as the only quarterbacks on the current roster.
“(Getting a free agent) may happen, but it’s got to be the right deal and the right person to fit within the organization here with the Steelers,” Bleier said. “They won’t draft a quarterback No. 1, No. 2. They might pick up a quarterback (in the) fourth, fifth round, depending on who’s around. But, if not, they’ll stay with who they’ve got and build an offense around it, build a running game, build an offensive line. They have to do that. That becomes really the most important thing, rather than the quarterback.”
Bleier also spent time signing autographs and talking with fans. He received several gifts, including items from Tony Penna Jr., owner of Main Street Hobby.
“We bought a collection and we got some of his personal effects, which was a baby picture and a (religious) record,” Penna said. “We got some really cool stuff. … I just figured some of this stuff was a little too intimate not to give back to him.”
Money from the event will go to the Veterans Committee to help in its mission to pay tribute to local veterans at the War Memorial.
“We’re certainly appreciative,” Veterans Committee Chairman Marty Kuhar said. “We’re excited, just like anybody, to have Rocky Bleier come in and to have him be part of the idea of raising money for us. We’ll use it between our landscaping for the veterans’ monument down there at the park, or the museum, all the things that we do. We’re certainly excited. We can always use the money.”
Bleier dropped the ceremonial first puck at the Tomahawks game against the Jamestown Rebels as 2,095 fans watched. He signed autographs for a long line of fans well into the third period of the North American Hockey League contest.