Veterans Wellness Festival and Memorial Ride

HOMESTEAD, PA (PittsburghNewsWire.com) — Veteran suicide is a national crisis. If we all take responsibility in wellness and connection, it can be life-changing and life saving for the veteran. The Veterans Helping Veterans (VHV) Wellness Festival and Memorial Ride will be held on June 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This community event will highlight awareness and wellness for veterans as well as their families and loved ones. This event will help connect veterans to services and resources, give opportunities to engage in wellness activities, raise awareness of the community about veterans’ struggles and veteran suicide, honor our veterans and those we have lost, and raise awareness and funds for VHV to continue their important work.

 

The festival is an outdoor street event under the Homestead Grays bridge (West St. between 6th and 7th Ave., Homestead PA). Starting at 10:00 a.m., the event kicks off on the main stage with a musical tribute to our veterans, followed by keynote speaker Rich Fitzgerald, County Executive. Registered motorcycles will then leave for a ride to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies for a military memorial ceremony. Staging and registration starts at 9:30 a.m. at 500 Amity St. (old train station), and kickstands will be up at 10:30 a.m. 

 

From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., family members and the community will be able to enjoy food trucks and live music as well as engage in wellness activities and conversations with the Veteran Service Organization, including the VA and community resources in the Veteran Village. Everyone is invited.

 

At 2:00 p.m., a patriotic ceremony will kick off the main program, which includes comments by Tim Martin, Chief Veteran Affairs, Allegheny County Veteran Services, who will shed light on the crisis plaguing our veterans, offering hope in the wealth of resources available through local veteran organizations. 

 

Veterans Helping Veterans provides a veteran-centric social environment where veterans can both find help navigating through the challenge of accessing resources and find peace and comfort, helping one another through whatever struggles they may be facing—never a charge for the veteran. VHV is located at 210 E. 7th Ave., Homestead, PA. We help navigate connections to the VA, jobs, homelessness, food, and civilian transition support. Whatever the need, as a team, we will figure it out and walk the journey with our veterans. VHV relies on volunteers and donations through fundraising to meet the needs of the veterans. The Wellness Festival and Memorial Ride is this year’s major fundraising event. We can save a life together.

 

 

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