This past weekend many veterans and their families enjoyed a weekend at the Sunday River Ski Resort as part of Maine Adaptive Sports and Recreation, Veterans No Boundaries program. This free weekend is for veterans with permanent disabilities, both those you can see and those you can’t. The disabilities don’t have to be service connected, for example, a veteran who has been diagnosed with MS after service would be eligible. Veterans started arriving on Thursday with events happening on Friday through Monday. Besides alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snow shoeing there are also indoor wheelchair pickleball and other indoor activities. All events are for the whole family. Each member of the family will get a volunteer ski instructor no matter what level of skier they are, many arriving having never been on skis and leave loving going up the chair lift and traversing the slopes, sometimes without falling! Post 9/11 veterans do have priority but we always have veterans from the Vietnam era as well. While VNB is a weekend program for veteran families, Maine Adaptive is for all folks, young and old, who have disabilities and has winter programs seven days a week. Sunday River has skiing programs Sunday through Friday, Sugarloaf Friday through Sunday, and Pleasant Mountain Monday through Friday. All free, just have to get there. All equipment is provided.  Maine Adaptive has programing 12 months a year, so if you have a permanent disability and love recreation (biking, kayaking, pickleball, golfing, indoor rock climbing, and more), you should consider signing up with Maine Adaptive. For more information, go to www.maineadaptive.org and/or call/email me. 

On Feb. 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the VA is holding an Expo at Pineland Farms. Not only will the VA Benefits and VA Healthcare representatives be there with the ability to file claims and check your eligibility for VA healthcare, but many of the agencies that support veterans, and non-profits such as Boothbay VETS, Maine Veterans in Need, Honor Flight Maine, House in the Woods, Travis Mills Foundation, Vet2Vet, LL Bean, Maine Paws for Veterans, Quilts of Valor, and many more will be there. If you have any questions concerning your veteran benefits, or want to learn more about the many opportunities there are in Maine for veterans, you should take the time to attend. Of course there is no cost and no reservations required ... just come and bring the family. 

Maine Veterans in Need (MVN the subject of prior articles and has a new website www.maineveteransinneed.us) is frequently contacted by veterans who have serious transportation issues and are in desperate need for vehicles. If you have a vehicle that has passed the state inspection and would like to make a donation to a veteran in need, contact MVN (me) to facilitate the transfer so that it would be a tax deduction for you. 

This Thursday (Jan. 25) at 6 p.m. is the next Veterans Support and Fellowship Group at the Hall.