Fair Start: Improving Health for Veterans and Active Military



The SMVF, SIPPS and Columbia University School of Public Health are collaborating to recruit for a program to improve access to healthy food and health for Staten Island Veterans and Service Members. Healthy food and other services will be offered on a weekly basis at the Cespino-Russo American Legion Post 1544. Please see attached flyer with description and contact information. You can also reach out to Mike Matthews at (917) 613-2645 for any questions.

New York Outdoor Rx Coalition

The NY Outdoor Rx Coalition is tasked to identify barriers preventing service members, veterans, and their families from enjoying New York's parks and recreational areas and ensuring that age, gender, experience, or the need for special accommodations are not barriers to enjoying the great outdoors.

There’s a growing body of evidence that demonstrates referring military-connected clients/members to outdoor programs increases participants’ overall sense of well-being and promotes social interaction.

Share your experiences and challenges by taking this quick 10 to 15-minute survey. Your feedback will shape future initiatives and create and more accessible and inclusive outdoor experience for all military-connected communities.

Voice of Democracy Audio Essay Contest

Established in 1947, our Voice of Democracy audio-essay program provides high school students with the unique opportunity to express themselves in regards to a democratic and patriotic-themed recorded essay.

Each year, nearly 40,000 9-12 grade students from across the country enter to win their share of $2.1 million in educational scholarships and incentives awarded through the program. 

The national first-place winner receives a $30,000 scholarship paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational/technical school. A complete list of other national scholarships range from $1,000-$15,000, and the first-place winner from each VFW Department (state) wins a minimum scholarship of $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.

To learn more, click here.

To fill out an entry form, click here.

Patriot's Pen Essay Contest

Conducted nationwide, this VFW-sponsored youth essay competition encourages students to use their minds and knowledge of America’s history and their experience of today’s American society to write essays expressing their views on an annual patriotic theme. We invite you to join more than 120,000 students who participated last year in this contests.

Patriot’s Pen gives 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students the opportunity to express their opinion on a patriotic theme and improve their writing skills, while they compete for awards and prizes. The awards from all levels of the competition total $1.2 million each year. The National Association of Secondary School Principals has placed this program on their National Advisory List of Contests for participation. The theme for the Annual VFW Patriot’s Pen Essay is "What is Patriotism To Me."

To learn more, click here.

To fill out an entry form, click here.

End Veteran Debt

End Veteran Debt (EVD), a 501(c)(3) private charitable foundation is pleased to extend to the members of Staten Island SMVF Taskforce, both individually and collectively, an invitation to join or partner with us in a national campaign called Operation Debt-Day. 

On June 6, 1944, American and Allied forces landed at Normandy to liberate Europe. On June 6, 2024, Operation Debt-Day was launched to liberate veterans from debt.

Our mission is to end veteran debt, and consequently, reduce veteran suicide. It will take time, energy, expense, and genius, but we believe this will be rewarded with national public notice of this social travesty and greater local public awareness of the efforts of our partners to make a difference in our communities.

We would love for you to be part of this quest (share in the media attention and shared revenue if we co-fundraise). Our goal is to bring veteran-centric efforts to right the wrongs suffered by our returned warriors. For more information, please visit our website.

Browse these articles to learn more about our history and mission:

The Hill

The Guardian

Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting

CBS Sunday Morning

To get involved, attend our Veteran Mission Possible (VMP) community meeting on Monday, July 1st, from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm.

Link to the meeting can be found here.

Meeting ID: 874 9343 0432

Passcode: 696505