News

What an awesome night with our Operation BOOTS Peer-to-Peer support dinner. This month the belt goes to Veteran Kyle Alejandro. Congratulations Kyle and thank you for your service. It was great to see everyone again, listen to the laughs, meet many new Veterans for the first time and more. Watching everyone share stories and chat with new individuals. We had giveaways for those who’s first time attending. We also had the exchanging of the belt. The belt was held by Veteran John Beyer. Thank you Big Ditch Brewing Company for having us in again.

Veteran Service Rep (and Navy Veteran) Rob Stutz is now back in our office 5 days a week effective immediately. You still will have to call for an appointment. Unfortunately, we cannot accept walk-ins. Rob has submitted over 753 Claims/Supporting Evidence to the VA, of which 401 were new claims since last March. Thank you Rob for your commitment to Veterans in WNY.

Dan Dunleavy of the Buffalo Sabres broadcast team, stopped by our offices recently and donated some great suits. Dan wanted to pay it forward, mentioning his admiration for Veterans like his own father-in-law who served in the Navy. The suites will go to Vets in need of some pre-loved formal wear.

Our Veterans came together once again. Employees at the Original Pancake House were so happy to see us all back again. Seeing everyone come together, laugh and be happy felt so good. “I have a wonderful [service] dog who provides me the grounding I need to survive.” -Vet in Pawsitive For Heroes program

Blessed to take this photo with David Bellavia Medal of Honor recipient. Bellavia was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions while serving as a squad leader with the 1st Infantry Division in support of Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq, when a squad from his platoon became trapped by intense enemy fire. Thank you brother for your service!

Justice Racing Raffle, tickets now available for a $5 donation. Winners will be announced Sunday April 11, 2021 at approximately 12:45 You DO NOT need to be present. Thank you Justice Racing for your support!

Our Pawsitive for Heroes night was amazing. Thank you to Jarrett McCann, our assistant for reaching out and contacting our community partners for this evening. Starbucks for providing coffee and puppachinos, Jenn”s Mobile Paw Spa for trimming nails and teeth cleaning, Canine Caviar for the giveaways. Thank you to our trainers , Kaleigh Bell, John Knoph, Kristina Klímová and Haji Ibn Akmal Shareef who also attended and talked about public access, use of pinch collars and dealing with community. We know when our Veterans are done with our program, they are living a better life and better educated. Thank you for making our program bigger and better every day. to our new veterans just joining our program, we welcome you to the family.

We spent the morning & afternoon delivering a huge truck load of much needed food to both Genesee County & Wyoming County. It was great to see everyone and let them know that others do care and here to assist Veterans when they are in need. We thank everyone for their service & continued service in our community. If you know of any Veterans in need of food, please have them reach out to our office so that we can assist. Thank you WNY for believing in us.

Hey I know you all remember celebrating WWII Veteran Ed’s 97th birthday! Here’s the dynamic duo paying a visit to the beautiful Ice sculpture in Arcade. We do believe Darlene his daughter needed a break from sorting through all of his cards and decided to take a 90+ mile round trip drive with dad! ❤️🇺🇸

We have teamed up with Laughter Saves Lives Foundation Comedy Tour from NYC to raise funds and more awareness for WNYHeroes. March 12, 2021, tickets are $15.00 You can help support their efforts to support us by purchasing your ticket here https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5065700

Master of ceremony, John Larocchia retired FDNY after 21yrs and President of the Laughter Saves Lives Foundation

Featuring:
Rich Walker
Gail Freier
Peaches Rodriquez, Danced on tour W/ Elton John
Jim Dalakas, International headliner from Australia.
Peter Bales, As seen on Comedy Central, and MTV
Mary Kennedy, As seen on Shameless and CONAN

The theme this week (3/1-3/5) is kids ROCK! C’mon in and get some super cool rock painting craft kits! While supplies last. Call upon arrival and we will run them out to your vehicle! (716) 630-5020.

Happy 1st Birthday Mike!!! Mike is representing with the Coast Guard patches thanks to Imperial Textile & Paratrooper Army Navy Surplus. Imperial Texile donated their time and material to sew Velcro on the backs of almost 50 military patches, donated by Paratrooper. The quality of the work, attention to detail, and generosity says so much about these local company’s employees and management.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers for breaking your backs during the rain. Rain, Sleet or Snow, we must keep providing for our Veteran families Thank you to USDA, Feed More WNY, Paula’s Donuts, Canisius High School Students and the entire gang for keeping up this weekly effort.

Our king and queen of last Saturday’s Veteran’s dinner at The Fieldstone. The new King (John)/Queen (Jody) get to pick the next location for dinner. Everyone has a great time.

Excited to give yet another vehicle away to a Veteran who was desperately in need of transportation. US Army Veteran Joe King received a pick-up that was originally donated by our friends Mr. & Mrs. Francis Cote & son Christopher. The pickup was originally that of their late son/brother Jonathan Cote KIA Iraq. The Veteran who originally received this piece (Christ Family) called and decided to donate it back to us to recycle through the program as they were finally in a much better place and able to purchase a new family vehicle. We continue to keep the entire Cote family in our thoughts and prayers, especially Jonathan. Thank you to the Christ family for your willingness to bring it back for another Veteran to use. Thank you Amton Truck & Auto for your hand in this and making sure everything was fixed and ready for the road. Least but not last, thank you to Joe for your service to our country and make Jonathan’s truck bring you the same pleasure as it has in the past.

WNY Heroes would like to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of all African American Veterans from WNY including, but not limited to the following WWII Veterans:
PFC Roscoe Brown, US Marine Corps
Sgt. James Coleman, US Army
SFC Russell Guthrie, US Army (Purple Heart)
PFC Indiana Hunt Martin, US Women’s Army Corps
PFC Paul Woods. US Army (3 Bronze Stars)
Our sincere thanks and appreciation to all during black history month.

May God bless them, their families and watch over their children as they grow. Although God has called them home, they will never be forgotten. We thank you for your service, sacrifice, commitment and dedication to our grateful country. The three victims of the crash are 54-year-old Steven Skoda of Rochester, 39-year-old Christian Koch of Honeoye Falls, and 30-year-old Daniel Prial of Rochester.

Quit bad habits! Quit bad routines! Quit procrastinating! Quit quitting on yourself! It’s time! Classes for Veterans and dependents. It takes a family as a whole! Sign up now for amazing info and a chance to make changes with WNYHeroes and our amazing partners in the community! Your comfort and safety is important to us! Zoom and in person opportunities! Email [email protected] for a zoom link and title the email HEALTH AND WELLNESS for an informative night with amazing opportunities!