What We Do
We support Victories for Veterans.
Each year, DAV helps more than a million veterans in life-changing ways. Learn more: dav.org/victories-for-veterans/
All of the professional services DAV provides are offered at no cost or obligation to veterans, their families, and survivors of all generations.
Veterans do not have to join DAV to benefit from our mission.
DAV Chapter 48 Programs
Benefits Advocacy
Our local chapter provides trained Service Officers to assist veterans, their families, and survivors with accessing VA benefits and linking them with the Department Service Officers (DSO). Sometimes, we provide transportation to the nearest DSO office, which is at the Oakland, California, federal building.
We help returning veterans transition back to civilian life by linking them with services that address their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
A Chapter Service Officer is available by appointment or walk-in (first-come, first-serve) most weeks at the Vet Connect Clinic on Tuesdays between 9 AM to 12 PM, located at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building. Please arrive early since there is usually a line to see the Chapter Service Officer, and check the Vet Connect calendar before coming to make sure a clinic will be happening.
Resources & Direct Assistance
Navigating the resources available to veterans can be confusing, but DAV believes no veteran should have to go it alone. In addition to what our chapter volunteers can help with, you can find links to tools and resources that can help ease the process of attaining earned benefits, coping with the lasting effects of service-connected injuries, and finding programs and services that meet your specific needs. If you require additional information, please contact your nearest DAV National Service Officer for assistance. Learn more: dav.org/veterans/resources/
Community Outreach
We educate the public and the veteran community about DAV programs. Our information seminars give veterans the help they need to file and receive VA claims, as well as everyday support as they take back normal life. And for some vets, the situation is more urgent. DAV’s outreach to homeless veterans, and our disaster relief grants, lend a helping hand to those veterans who face additional hurdles in their return to life at home. Learn more: dav.org/veterans/outreach-programs/
Outreach helps us to identify unmet needs and develop unique and creative projects to serve sick and injured veterans in their communities.
Recreational Programs
We host recreational programs and social opportunities such as fishing trips, BBQs at Yountville Veterans’Home, and holiday gatherings (all-wish list items).
Fundraisers
Forget-Me-Not drives and fundraising events to support our cost-free programs and low overhead operating costs.
Volunteer Service Program
We recruit and train volunteers to help with the needs of the veteran community.
Legislative Program
We assist veterans who are motivated to make system-level changes that affect the veterans’ community through local, state, and nationwide legislation. DAV provides the structure and platform called resolution writing. DAV’s National Legislative Department takes the resolutions adopted by DAV members at our annual National Conventions to Congress to advocate for improved federal laws, regulations and policies of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other federal agencies whose programs support the veteran population.
Transportation Network (wish-list)
We believe no one in America should go without health care simply because they don’t have a ride. A DAV van was donated to our area to help veterans get rides to their medical appointments. However, due to the lack of volunteer drivers, we were forced to donate the vehicle to a different location. Since there is a high need for this service, we need help with recruiting volunteer drivers. If we can recruit enough volunteer drivers, we can re-apply to receive another DAV van.
DAV Protection Benefits Team
Please join DAV’s dedicated grassroots supporters and help protect veterans’ benefits! Your involvement will increase our effectiveness in advocating for ill and injured veterans, their families, and survivors – and will unify and solidify DAV’s message across the nation.
We need your help in communicating DAV’s legislative priorities to Congress, the media and the general public. Given the volatility of the current political environment – it is an important time to strengthen advocacy efforts so the much talked about reform of VA’s health care system is done in the best interest of veterans, existing benefits are protected, and future benefits are developed in line with what matters to those who have served.
Our success in pushing for and seeing legislative changes in Washington remains dependent on the continued strength of our nationwide grassroots movement. Now is the time to become proactive, and now is the time to prepare – before others decide it is a good idea to dismantle the VA or take away hard-earned benefits and services from those who have served and sacrificed for this country. We are all responsible for helping ensure that our government does not go back on its promises to our nation’s veterans and their families. Remember, protecting our benefits begins with you. Learn more: dav.org/dav-benefits-protection-team/
DAV Nationwide Programs
Benefits Advocacy
Our highly-trained Department Service Officers (DSOs) provides free, professional assistance to veterans of all generations in obtaining U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other benefits earned through service. These DSOs provide counseling on all veterans’ benefits, including disability compensation, health care, pension, survivors’ benefits, employment rights, education, and more. Our DSOs also help veterans assemble the evidence to support claims, build their cases, and prepare forms and briefs. DAV also provides disaster relief to disabled veterans affected by catastrophes such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods. Veterans do not have to join DAV to benefit from our mission. DAV service offices can be contacted through benefitsquestions.org.
Mobile Service Office
In an effort to reach out to more veterans, DAV implemented the Mobile Service Office (MSO) program. This program is designed to educate veterans and their families about specific veterans benefits and services. A schedule of MSO locations can be found on the National DAV website: dav.org/timeline_slider_post/mobile-service-office-program-established-2001/
National Employment Program
DAV links veterans to job training and job assistance programs. The journey from injury to recovery is not complete until a veteran can find meaning in their life. For those able, that means getting back to work to care for their families. DAV is committed to ensuring veterans have the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to competitively enter the job market and secure meaningful employment. DAV’s employment program connects transitioning active duty, Guard and Reserve members, veterans, and their spouses with employers. Through our traditional VA benefits and claims assistance available at hiring expos and by co-hosting career fairs. Information on employment services and a schedule of upcoming events can be found at jobs.dav.org.
Legislative Program
As a nonpartisan organization, DAV seeks reasonable, responsible legislation to improve benefits and services for disabled veterans and their families and survivors. DAV’s legislative goals are set by the organization’s members and focus on issues such as disability compensation, medical care, women veterans, employment and rehabilitation programs, and burial and survivors’ benefits. Stay up to date on these issues and more at davcan.org.
Sign up for the DAV Commander’s Action Network today to help protect the earned benefits of ill and injured veterans and their families. By becoming an advocate, you can help inform lawmakers about the important issues and challenges veterans face every day. You will receive alerts and updates on key legislative issues impacting and affecting the veteran community. Through DAV CAN, you can share your views and directly voice your concerns with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Your involvement is critical and increases the effectiveness of our advocacy mission to fulfill our promises to the men and women who served.
You do not have to be a member of DAV to join our grassroots movement or to sign up for Action Alerts through DAV CAN. You simply need to want to help.
Homeless Veterans
We help homeless veterans by providing food and shelter while connecting veterans to medical care, benefits counseling, and job training.
Veterans – Need A Ride?
Local Chapters and state-level Departments are actively involved in providing free transportation to veterans who have no way to get to VA hospitals and clinics for the medical care they need. DAV operates a fleet of vehicles around the country to provide free transportation to VA medical facilities for injured and ill veterans. DAV stepped in to help veterans get the care they need when the federal government terminated its program that helped many of them pay for transportation to and from medical facilities. The vans are driven by volunteers, and the rides are coordinated by more than 174 Hospital Service Coordinators around the country. Learn more: dav.org/veterans/i-need-a-ride/
Voluntary Services Program
During any given year, DAV volunteers contribute more than 2.5 million hours in VA medical facilities. They bring veteran patients comfort in knowing that their community remembers and cares about them. DAV provides a wide range of services for veterans that include transportation to medical appointments, support in VA medical facilities, and special assistance to veterans in need in communities nationwide. Interested volunteer drivers and those who want to work in VA medical facilities can email vavs@dav.org to learn more about opportunities in your area. Veterans with special needs, their caregivers, and those interested in community support can visit volunteerforveterans.org. These services can be as simple as helping veterans or caregivers with home maintenance to participating in initiatives that assist our nation’s heroes at the local level.
Recreational Programs
We host recreational programs which bring veterans together.
Rehabilitation Programs
We fund rehabilitation programs for veterans with severe disabilities. The DAV National Service Foundation develops financial resources for the assistance, aid, maintenance, care support, and rehabilitation of ill and injured veterans and their families. In 2021, 97% of funds were expended toward direct program services for veterans and their families. To learn more: https://nsf.dav.org/
“Forget Me Not” Fundraisers
Held 7 days per year and are individually hosted by each chapter nationwide. DAV members volunteer to meet potential donors in front of local businesses who have graciously agreed to allow us to be there.
DAV Magazine
The official voice of DAV and Auxiliary. Learn more: dav.org/learn-more/dav-magazine/
DAV Thank A Vet
Honor a veteran in your life by adding their photo and your personal thank you to the DAV Thank A Vet Mosaic. Learn more: davthankavet.org/
DAV Events
DAV national and local events. Learn more: dav.org/events/
The first time DAV members ever sold little, blue ‘Forget-Me-Not’ to the public was on February 24, 1926. The first Forget-Me-Not Drive was held to raise funds to support DAV services and assistance desperately needed by veterans disabled in World War I. The DAV wasn’t the first veterans’ organization to support some of its humanitarian work through the sale of artificial flowers. Actually, the DAV was picking up on the idea that later became an international tradition now shared by veterans’ groups in more than 50 countries. The idea behind the ‘Forget-Me-Not’ flower grew out of an image carried home from the First World War in the memories of soldiers who had seen spring flowers growing among the graves of comrades and allies killed in the fighting. The scene, with its promise of new life following the sacrifices of so many, was immortalized in the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae, thus capturing the hearts of people yearning for peace. The flower soon became the accepted symbol for commemorating those who had fallen in war. This small flower says, “Please, don’t forget me” for those who had come home as well as for those who had given their lives. It’s an appropriate symbol to remind us continually of the service and sacrifice that make our way of life possible. This symbol of living history is a legacy that continues to serve veterans of all eras today as it did in the aftermath of World War I.
This symbol of remembrance has been the staple of Chapter-level fundraising efforts, which provides assistance to your local Veterans. Your support of our mission honors our Veterans and makes our grassroots service initiatives possible.
We need DAV member volunteers to help us reach more people during the 7 days of fundraising. If you can donate 2 or more hours for 1 to 7 days out of the year please contact us. We also would appreciate any local media coverage to let people know where our volunteers will be stationed during the Forget-Me-Not Drives. If you have media contacts please let us know.
Wish
Event
Fishing
Monterey Bay Veterans Inc. (MBV) is a volunteer based, non-profit organization which exists to honor and support those who have served and sacrificed for our nation. Integration of the physically challenged community into normal activities and recreation is the core of MBV’s mission. Among other things, MBV functions are on-demand services provided by request to qualified veterans and community members. All programs are provided at little or no charge to the participants.
DAV Chapter 48, along with the other local chapters, would like to host a fishing event with MBV for local veterans including Veterans residing at the Veterans Home in Yountville. However, we need volunteers to help provide assistance to physically challenged Veterans. If you are interested in volunteering for this event please contact us.
Wish
Event
Veterans' Home BBQ
DAV Chapter 48 used to host an annual BBQ for the Veterans who reside at the Veterans’ Home in Yountville California. However, we need volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering for this event please contact us.
Wish
fundraiser
Food Feeds
We are interested in hosting food feeds, such as a spaghetti feed, polenta feed, crab feed, etc. However, we need volunteers to help with these labor intensive events including volunteers who are experienced in conducting these events, advertisement, and coordination. If you are interested in helping out in some way, whether it be advising or in working in the trenches with us, please contact us.
Wish
Fundraiser
Donations for Raffles
We fund raise with help from local businesses and people who donate goods and services for raffles at our events. If you would like to donate goods and/or services for our raffles, please contact us.