Veterans Transition House

During the past month of March, Curves, located at 331 State Rd., No. Dartmouth, MA, conducted a food drive amongst its’ members resulting in a total donation of approximately 1,500 pounds of food items, with an emphasis on healthy foods, to three area non-profit organizations.

The New Bedford Vet Center has moved to Fairhaven, but is still officially the New Bedford Vet Center. Our new address is 73-2 Huttleston Ave. (also Rte. 6) in Fairhaven, MA 02719. Our phone number and FAX numbers remain the same - 508-999-6920 and FAX 508-997-3348. Most everything has remained the same, but we do have a new Office Manager, Ms. Gail Grundy. Otherwise the staff remains the same, H. Folger Cleaveland, PhD., is the Team Leader and Danny Nadeau and Joan Fye are the therapists.

Ornament, Southern New England’s Premier Rock Orchestra, will present a concert entitled “A Tribute to the Trans Siberian Orchestra” in the main auditorium of New Bedford High School on Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm. The concert is sponsored by the New Bedford Veterans Transition House.

The Martha Briggs Educational Club, Inc. in collaboration with the New Bedford Historical Society, supported by Brewer Banner Designs and funded by Community Mini-Grant Program of the Greater New Bedford United Way dedicated a new flagpole and wayside signs in front of the Sgt. William H. Carney homestead on Mill St. in New Bedford. The work was completed by volunteers.

New Bedford- The Board of Directors of the Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program, Inc., better known as the Veterans Transition House, is pleased to announce the selection of Kathleen M. Splinter, First Lieutenant, USA (Veteran) of Fall River, MA as the 2009 Southeastern Massachusetts Veteran of the Year. Ms. Splinter is the 14th person to receive the award.

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Elizabeth Trundy as the new Director of the Women Veterans Transition House (WVTH).

New Bedford - The Board of Directors of the Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program, Inc., which operates the Veterans Transition House programs, annually selects a veteran from the area who has made an outstanding contribution to veterans, veterans’ issues or the community as a whole.

Susan Fonteneau-Nicolan has been nominated and subsequently selected to participate in the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium’s (IC&RC) Advanced Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Counselor (AAODA) Item Writing session to be held from Friday, June 19 to Sunday Jun e 21, 2009 in Dunedin, Florida at the headquarters of the IC&RC testing company, Schroeder Measurement Technologies (SMT). The purpose of this session will be to write items for the updated AAODA exam.

Sponsored by Rolling Thunder, Inc., the Mass. Motorcycle Association and the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 499, the Veterans Transition House presents the 6th Annual Paul Guzman Memorial VETERANS BIKE RUN AND PIG ROAST on Sunday, June 28, 2009 starting and ending at the Freetown VFW, 89 Middleboro Rd., E. Freetown, MA. Proceeds from the event will go to the Veterans Transition House and Women Veterans Transition House supporting the services provided to homeless veterans in order for them to achieve the goal of successful independent living within the community.

NEW BEDFORD — On Monday, April 23, 2009 U.S. Senator John F. Kerry and U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy announced new legislation, the Education and Rehabilitation for Veterans Act, which will create Veterans Drug Courts across the country in the same model as New Bedford’s present drug court. These courts will help servicemen and women to receive treatment for addictions as an alternative to incarceration.

NEW BEDFORD, MA – On Thursday, April 16th the Homeless Service Providers’ Network (HSPN) presented the 5th annual Sister Rose Award for excellence and dedication to homeless service provision in the New Bedford Continuum of Care to Shelly Corrreia, Director of the HarbOur House family homeless shelter. The award ceremony took place at the end of the monthly HSPN meeting which is held at the Office of Housing and Community Development, 608 Pleasant St., New Bedford. The award, named in honor of its first recipient, Market Ministries Executive Director Sister Rose Ellen Gallogly, is given annually to a person from within the homeless continuum of care in recognition of his or her compassion, achievement, and dedication to the principle that every person is entitle to live in dignity. Nominations are gathered from colleagues through the City’s Homeless Service Providers’ Network (HSPN), the membership component of the continuum. The final decision is made by the HSPN’s Executive Committee, and announced at an event during the City’s Community Development Block Grant Week.

Joining hundreds of American Revolution, Civil War and World War II re-enactors complete with vintage Willis Jeeps and Sherman tanks, the Veterans Transition House Honor Guard was invited to participate in the Town of Lexington Patriots’ Day Parade held on Monday, April 20, 2009. This marks the third consecutive year that the VTH Honor Guard has been invited to march in commemoration of the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program Inc. (Veterans Transition House) recently held its 19th Annual Meeting.

For reasons unknown, when the members of New Bedford Voke-Tech team American Spirit attended a Skills USA conference in the western part of the state along with their faculty advisors, Sarah Lopes stayed behind.

Team American Spirit’s participation in Operation Turkey was to cook 40 turkeys on Wednesday morning. A conflict in scheduling at the kitchen facilities of the school put that plan in jeopardy.

Without hesitation and without even the thought of contacting her advisors at the conference, Sarah took the initiative and arranged for the turkeys to be cooked by the culinary arts department on Tuesday instead. Thanks to Sarah’s leadership, the rest of the team returned to the school to find that the turkeys had already been cooked.

Students members of the “American Spirit” team of the Skills USA program at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School assisted the Veterans Transition House in Operation Turkey as part of a American Spirit competition.

Operation Turkey 2009, spearheaded by New Bedford’s Veteran’s Agent Donat “Dan” Le Blanc in collaboration with the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 499, The Veterans Transition House and students of the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School provided over 350 Thanksgiving meals to area veterans and their families. The turkeys were generously donated by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

(Boston) – Senator Mark Montigny urges veterans of New Bedford to take advantage of the Commonwealth’s new veteran smoking cessation program. This program, which was launched earlier in the week, encourages veterans to quit smoking by providing a free 4-week supply of nicotine patches.

Last Thursday evening, the familiar cheers and ovations as well as the catcalls to the umpire took on a special meaning.  On this beautiful late-summer night, the second game of a three-game “World Series” was played at Buttonwood Park.  The matchup between the players of the Veterans Transition House of New Bedford and the North Cottage Program of Norton, MA was the second time these teams found themselves competing against each other in a championship game.  Last year, the VTH lost a heartbreaker to the same North Cottage Program team and came into this series determined to win the championship.


The VTH closely won the first game by 13 to 12 last Tuesday night.  Buoyed by that close score, the North Cottage players were just as determined.  Both teams were ready and played exceptional softball with very few errors, becoming a battle of the bats.  As the sun, and the dust, settled that evening, the scoreboard showed that the Veterans Transition House had succeeded in atoning for last year’s lost – 21 to 10.  

Starting on AHA Night, Thursday, September 11th, 2008 the Veterans Transition House will present a “Salute to the Veterans” Art Exhibit at the Gallery X, 169 William St., New Bedford, MA. The Exhibit will display over 100 original paintings by Veterans Transition House residents who participate in the Art as Therapy program under the direction of Cindy Ricard.

New Bedford- The Board of Directors of the Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program, Inc., better known as the Veterans Transition House, is pleased to announce the selection of Nelson N. Ostiguy, USMC (Ret.) as the 2008 Southeastern Massachusetts Veteran of the Year. Mr. Ostiguy is the tenth person to receive the award.

Eight years ago a group of volunteers spearheaded by the then House Manager of the Veterans Transition House, Paul Guzman, began what was to become an annual fundraising event for the VTH – ROCKOVERY.  

New Bedford - The Board of Directors of the Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program, Inc., which operates the Veterans Transition House programs, annually selects a veteran from the area who has made an outstanding contribution to veterans, veterans’ issues or the community as a whole.

The Athenian leader, Pericles, offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago.  Pericles wrote:  “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not in stone but in the hearts of men.”  On Memorial Day, this tradition of tribute to the men and women who served in our Armed Forces is applied to the more than 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars.