An Agent Orange/Hepatitis-C Town Hall meeting was held on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Victoria, Texas, 10:00 AM to 3 PM. The event was held at the Victoria College Emerging Technology Complex, located in Victoria, Texas, 7403 Lone Tree Road. VVA Chapter 1069 of El Campo, along with several other VVA Chapters in the area planned and organized the event. The event was a huge success! This webpage contains a summary report, along with many photos taken at the event.
Victoria College Emerging Technology ComplexThe following organizations and VVA Chapters sponsored the event.
The sponsors and participants of the event along with all the Veterans who attended the event would like to thank the following organizations, companies and individuals for their generous contributions and help in making this event so successful.
VVA Chapter 1069 had created an extensive informational webpage (on this website) in order to help promote this event. The webpage contains many links to important VA documents and forms that may be helpful to those Vietnam Veterans who may be planning to file an Agent Orange Exposure claim with VA. The page also contains a lot of general Agent Orange information including links to important Agent Orange documentation & guides, and a contact list of all Victoria and Wharton area VSOs (Veteran Service Officers). Use the link below to view the page.
CLICK HERE for more information about filing an AO Exposure claim with the VA Photo below shows the event welcome panel located at the entrance to the large meeting room at the Victoria College Emerging Technology Complex , where the event was held.
The listing below provides more details and information for the various events that occurred during the day of the event.
Leonard welcomed all attendees and thanked them for coming. He then led everyone in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
He then introduced Joe McCreary, member of VVA Chapter 1069 to give the opening prayer.
Leonard then introduced Congressman Blake Farenthold (photo below). Farenthold opened the event with a Welcome presentation
Blake Farenthold is the
U.S. Congressman for the 27th district in Texas
, which includes a large part of South Texas
encompassing San Marcos to Victoria to Corpus Christi to Wharton. Farenthold provides many
services for the Veterans
living in this part of Texas. After he spoke, he fielded many questions from the audience during a brief Q&A session.
Photo below shows the President of
VVA Chapter 854
, Hallettsville, Tx, receiving an award for the Chapter from Farenthold.
Photo below shows the President of
VVA Chapter 1029
, Cuero/Yorktown, Tx, receiving an award for the Chapter from Farenthold.
Photo below shows the Vice-President, Frank Kulcak, of
VVA Chapter 1069
, El Campo, Tx, receiving an award for the Chapter from Farenthold.
Photo below shows Ernest Montez, the President of
VVA Chapter 898
, Victoria, Tx, receiving an award for the Chapter from Farenthold.
Photo below shows Dana Sternadel receiving a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition" from Farenthold.
On the far right is her husband, Leonard, who is the President of VVA Chapter 1069 of El Campo, Tx. The chapter
would like to express their gratitude to Dana for all the hard work she contributed to help organize and promote
this special chapter event.
Farenthold also presented to additional awards. The first award went to the
Warrior's Weekend
organization of Victoria and was accepted by Ernest on behalf of the WW. The second award went to the
Everyday Heroes
of El Campo and was accepted by Leonard Sternadel on behalf of Everyday Heroes.
When Farenthold had finished with his presentation, the attendees were given a short break before the Hep-C
presentation would begin. Photo below shows many of the Veterans gathering in the large lobby of the brand
new 2-story Technology Complex. Coffee, water and soft drinks were available for everyone.
Many types of military caps were available for the Veterans.
Photo below was taken from the upper floor and again shows many of the veterans during the morning break.
Photo below shows Vanessa Hicks Callaway helping one of the attending veterans, most likely, with some issue
he may be having with his VA Benefits or some other Veteran related issue. Again, if any Veteran in the Victoria
or surrounding counties area is having some problems with the VA, you should contact her
Victoria office.
After the break, it was then time for the Hep-C presentation to begin. The photo below shows the first Hep-C speaker,
Mikey Carter, member of VVA Chapter 1095 of Delaware, Ohio. Mikey told his interesting story of being diagnosed with
Hepatitis-C, and finally being successfully treated.
The Hep-c presentation was given by Gilead Sciences. Shown below is the main speaker, Marc Cohen. He gave a very
detailed presentation about the symptoms and cures for Hep-C. His main message to the audience was to get tested
for Hep-C. His second main point was that Hep-C can be cured, once it's detected!
Mark Cohen (photo below) also showed slides during his presentation on Hep-C. As you can see in the photo below,
the Victoria College Emerging Technology Complex facility has an outstanding electronic projection system in
their large meeting room.
After his presentation (photo below), he answered many questions from the audience. Note that in the foreground
you can see where all the Veteran Service Officers were seated. The photo is also a good indicator of the size
of the crowd that attended the event during the morning session.
After the Hep-C presentation, a lunch break was taken. Photo below shows the volunteer students from St. Joseph
High School in Victoria, handing out the box lunches to the attendees. They did a wonderful service for the
Veterans and the event sponsors really appreciated it.
Photo below shows some of the box lunches being carried out to the attendees by the volunteer students.
Photo below shows everyone enjoying their Subway lunch. The box lunch consisted of a 6" sub, chips and a cookie.
The event sponsors would like to thank the local Victoria Subway shop for having the all those box lunches ready
on time for pickup and providing a delicious lunch for everyone.
After lunch, it was then time for the Agent Orange presentation to begin.
The photo below shows VVA Chapter 1069's VSO, along with the 3-member VVA National Agent Orange presentation team that flew in
from out of state locations, for the event. From left to right, Dwight Winkler (VSO for VVA Chapter
1069, El Campo, Tx), Mokie Pratt Porter (National VVA in Silver Springs, Maryland), Nancy
Switzer (VVA National in Silver Springs, Maryland, - the founding President & former National President of AVVA), and
Marc McCabe (VVA National in St. Petersburg, Florida).
The photo below shows Mokie Porter from VVA National giving her opening presentation.
Nancy Switzer also spoke to the attendees. They gave a PowerPoint presentation about
Agent Orange, and primarily focusing on how it can affect Veterans' children and grandchildren. Marc
also spoke about Veteran's issues and answered many questions. He handles many Veteran's VA appeals and was very knowledgeable
about Veteran's legal issues with VA. In all, the VVA National team gave a very good presentation and answered many questions.
All the sponsors of the Town Hall want to thank them for traveling down to Texas and putting on a great Agent Orange presentation.
We just hope they enjoyed their stay while here.
At this point, we should mention several important things. Along with the excellent presentation that the VVA National team gave at the event, they also brought with them many copies of the VVA's Self-Help Guide on Agent Orange with respect to the Vietnam Veteran. For more detailed information on each/all 50 presumptive diseases and all 19 presumptive child birth defects related to Agent Orange exposure, you should read the "The VVA Self-Help Guide To Service-Connected Disability Compensation For Exposure To Agent Orange" booklet. Note that this is 'THE' definitive guide/booklet for AO exposure and filing a VA claim! Use the link below to View or Print the online VVA Agent Orange Self-Help Guide.
View or Print the VVA Agent Orange Self-Help GuideDwight Winkler also gave an Agent Orange presentation that described the step-by-step process for determining whether or not a Veteran has had Agent Orange exposure and whether or not the Veteran was eligible to file a claim. The presentation also included instructions on how to file a VA claim. A free handout was also available to accompany the presentation. The handout also contains links to various websites related to Agent Orange exposure and filing VA claims. Use the link below to View or Print the Handout.
CLICK HERE to View or Print Dwight's Agent Orange Town Hall HandoutAnd finally, VVA Chapter 1069 had created an extensive informational webpage (on this website) in order to help promote this event. The webpage contains many links to important VA documents and forms that may be helpful to those Vietnam Veterans who may be planning to file an Agent Orange Exposure claim with VA. The page also contains a lot of general Agent Orange information including links to important Agent Orange documentation & guides, and a contact list of all Victoria and Wharton area VSOs (Veteran Service Officers). Use the link below to view the page.
CLICK HERE to get more information about Agent Orange Photo below shows Dwight Winkler, member and service officer for VVA Chapter 1069, providing an answer to a Veteran's question during the Agent Orange Q&A session.
The final highlight for the day was the drawing of names for the various door prizes that were given away - see photo below.
Photo below shows Leonard Sternadel, President of VVA Chapter 1069, performing the closing ceremony for the Agent Orange Town Hall meeting.
A final gathering of the attending Veterans.
The photo below shows the van that was donated for use to shuttle attendees to/from the event. Use of the van was donated
by a Veterans-Help organization called Everyday Heroes, located in El Campo, Texas. They provide a daily shuttle service
for Veterans to/from the VA Mediacl Centers in & out of Wharton County.
CLICK HERE for more information about Everyday Heroes
Again, all the sponsors of the Agent Orange Town Hall would like to thank all the proud Veterans that attended
the event and hope that you did learn something while there. The photo below shows one such proud Vietnam Veteran
who is one of many that belong to VVA Chapter 1069 of El Campo, Paul Francoeur. Paul was a Green Beret in Vietnam
and worked with Special Forces. Here's wishing a well deserved "Welcome Home" to all Vietnam Veterans.
