[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
                        VOLUNTARY SERVICE [VAVS]

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, this year marks the 50th anniversary 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service [VAVS]. Its 
half-century of caring for veterans and their families in communities 
across the country has generated more than 440 million hours of service 
and introduced millions of citizens to the fulfillment and satisfaction 
of volunteering.
  VAVS was born in the burgeoning, postwar VA medical system as VA 
hospital administrators sought a way to organize the spontaneous 
volunteer movements that developed in communities near military and VA 
hospitals. From the start, VA officials recognized this volunteer 
movement as a natural adjunct to the quality of health care provided 
veterans. In April 1946, under the leadership of General Omar Bradley, 
then head of VA, representatives of eight national veterans and service 
organizations met in Washington, DC, to form a national advisory 
committee. The result of the meeting was a plan through which both 
community organizations and individuals could participate in 
volunteering and help manage those volunteer programs locally and 
nationally through advisory committees.
  That plan was approved May 17, 1946, the birth date of the VA 
Voluntary Service. Today, there are 60 major veteran, civic, and 
service organizations participating on the National Advisory Committee, 
with more than 350 other national and community organizations 
supporting VAVS.
  Still based in the VA health care system, VA volunteers have expanded 
with that system into every area of patient care and support, and have 
followed the VA mission into community settings such as hospice 
programs, foster care, hospital-based home care, veterans outreach 
centers, homeless veterans programs, and special events for the 
disabled. In addition, community volunteers work increasingly with VA's 
other service delivery venues such as benefits offices and national 
cemeteries.
  VAVS volunteers have been particularly active in supporting community 
programs aimed at reaching and serving the homeless. These 1-to-3 day 
events offer a variety of services to the homeless, and VA resources 
focus on assisting veterans, who make up at least one-third of the 
homeless male population in a typical community.
  Volunteers have also become an integral part of the system of 
national and local showcase events aimed at introducing persons with 
disabilities back to mainstream activities. These include the National 
Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, the National Veterans 
Wheelchair Games--the largest wheelchair athletic meet in the world--
the National Disabled Veterans Golden Age Games, and the National 
Disabled Veterans Creative Arts Festival. Corporate volunteers play a 
strong role in these events and have become elemental to their success. 
Growing participation from the corporate sector is setting the pace for 
the future of VAVS, along with a strong and growing youth volunteer 
program that is introducing teenagers and college students to careers 
as well as to community service.
  The focus remains as it was in those early post-World War II years, 
responding to each community's desire to put its veterans first. That's 
why last year, volunteers contributed a total of 14,021,586 hours of 
service through VAVS programs, 12,649,676 of which came from 93,821 
regularly scheduled volunteers. Numbers do not tell the real story, 
however. There is no way to calculate a community's caring and sharing 
with some of its most important citizens. For 50 years, VAVS has been 
there to channel that caring in a productive, meaningful way.

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