American Veterans Rebuilding

Dear Jose. I know I'm late with this, but I wanted you to know something.

You can indeed teach old dogs new tricks. I have experienced this over the last few years as I continue to try to keep my promise to you of learning to surf. Along the way, we started to reform our old pack. Same old dogs as before, but now eighteen something years later. Eighteen years of us learning new joys and enduring new sorrows. Eighteen years where we have become husbands and fathers. Eighteen years of losing loved ones and old friends who once watched our back. Eighteen years of failing repeatedly of learning to let things go, and to become a "civilian". While in the same time realizing that those failures are what make us who we are and gradually makes us stronger.

Jose, we want to thank you for the brother you were to us. Your impact in our lives has lived every moment in our minds for the last Eighteen years. These old dogs continue to learn new tricks in their lives and we do so everyday in your honor. I hope you can look down and know that your sacrifice was not in vein, and smile knowing that you got these old dogs flopping around on this beach trying to learn the best trick of all. How to surf with you!

We are pleased to announce that AVR has secured the residence to be used for the AVR annual get together. I want to start by thanking Sergio Rubio, our Vice President, for knocking this task out of the park!!!! This epic home has seven bedrooms, 4.5 baths and accommodates 12 guests. It is located within sight of Oxnard Beach and is only a five minute walk to the surf and sand. With that said, we have forgone an additional campground, as camping on/near the beach is within walking distance to a warm shower and comfy family. The residence is secured from check in on the 17th of October and checkout on the 20th. This home was also well within the budget raised for the event, allowing us the freedom to allocate additional funds elsewhere. Rubio, GREAT WORK man, you really did come up clutch here.

Home in Oxnard · ★4.89 · 7 bedrooms · 10 beds · 4.5 baths Huge Beach House Silver Strand 5 houses to sand

We will be live for our first open Board Meeting starting at 9:30 PM CST. Hope to see you there.

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 51 members

Don't forget, American Veterans Rebuilding is hosting its first ever open Board of Directors meeting tomorrow night. Join us Tuesday evening, August 27th 2024 at 9:30PM to catch up on AVR's current standing, where we are going, and help us plan our annual "Surfing with Perez" reunion. All you have to do to join is click the link below to become a member of the AVRNPO.ORG Discord community. We hope to see you there. https://discord.com/invite/6MdzYcGrjm

Mission | American Veterans Re American Veterans Rebuilding is dedicated to the improvement of the American Veteran's Self, Family and Community through Technical Training, Occupational Licensing, Home Ownership Options and Professional Networking. 

American Veterans Rebuilding would like to invite you to meet it's Board of Directors this coming week, Tuesday, August 27th 2024.

President Michael Price, Vice President Sergio Rubio, Vice President and Secretary Josh Hicks and Treasurer William Cuccurullo will be hosting AVR's first Board of Directors meeting open to participation from members of the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server.

In this months meeting we will review our first year of operation to date, our current standings and funds and our plans for the coming months.

One of those plans happens to be our "Surfing with Perez" annual get together. Starting in 2016 Josh, Rubio, Myself and several other members of C-Co 1-6 have been getting together in South California on or around October 18th to reminisce about our time spent with our fallen brother Jose. This year, we have been able to set aside some funds in order to ensure that as many people as possible can attend. With that said, we need your help in deciding what the best way to allocate these funds will be.

If you are one of my 1-6 family reading this, please be sure to share. It is our intention to get our families together as well as reunite with each other again.

If you are friends, family or just supporters of AVR's mission wanting to know more, please be sure to join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord community at the link below. We hope to see you there, next Tuesday, August 27th starting around 9:30PM CST.

https://discord.gg/GjgvexBtg4

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 51 members

American Veterans Rebuilding will be holding it's first open board meeting this month. If you would like to know more about how we are building and growing please feel free to join us in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server Tuesday, August 27th at approximately 9:30 PM Central Standard Time.

In this months meeting we will cover growth from last month, set our sights for the coming months and, most importantly, begin finalizing details for our annual "Surfing With Perez" reunion to be held in October, that we have been receiving and saving donation money for.

We would love to have as many attend as possible so that we can come up with a plan that includes as many families and friends attending as we can muster.

Hope to see you there. Click the link below to become a member.

https://discord.gg/GjgvexBtg4

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 50 members

Salutations! I know things have been quiet around here, but you can trust that we are very much still active in continuing out mission behind the scenes. I wanted to take a second to review some of our progress.
For starters Myself, Josh, Rubio and William have been meeting monthly to review our progress and plan our growth. It has now been 12 months as a functional NPO and we have had 12 meetings without need to skip or cancel. That is a huge achievement in itself and I'd like to personally thank Serge, Josh and Will for their dedication to AVR.

One of our topics of discussion is always how to engage our community of supporters. We would like to have opportunities in the server for everyone to get together and chat as we did during the podcast recording sessions. With that said we would like to invite everyone in our discord community to partake in our monthly AVR Board meetings. We feel that this will be a great opportunity for you to see how things are being run and where we are as a team. It would also provide great opportunity to receive input from you. Our first open meeting will take place on or about Tuesday, 7/27/2024. The format will be listen only for guests, but guests will have the ability to interact through chat and the ability to speak if appropriate to the topic at hand. After conclusion of the meeting we can then have a "bonfire session" to catch up and share thoughts. This is something we are really excited about so if you are reading this please let me know what you think.

In other news, AVR Secretary Josh Hicks has spearheaded a donation sharing partnership with AVR and Benevity. We are just exploring the opportunities of this partnership and will have and in depth discussion of it in our open August meeting so be sure to join us to learn more.

Finally THE BIGGEST news. For the last few months we have been donating and setting aside some money to be used as needed to get together for our "official" / "unofficial" get together. We have currently raised around $650 to be used toward room and board or travel so that that as many people can attend as possible. If you would like to help donate to this cause, donations as low as $1.00 can be made at AVRNPO.ORG, and be sure to select the option that says "Surfing with Perez Reunion". As always the get together is on or around October 18th. We intend to nail down the dates and begin making room and board reservations during our open August board meeting. It is important that you attend this meeting if you intend to join us out there as we will need as much help possible organizing a larger scale reunion. I personally REALLY REALLY REALLY would love for this to grow into something official that is attended by as many as possible. Please help us set it up.

Thank you all for the support to date. You can join us in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord community at the link below.

https://discord.gg/GjgvexBtg4

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 50 members

Another Week, another great episode of the AVR SFC Podcast published. In this episode we welcome back Bert Cusimano and discuss his role as a Post Commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, or as you probably know it, the VFW. If you'd like to know more about what the VFW does for veterans from the local all the way up to the national level, this is the podcast for you. Stay tuned to the end to see how you can help the organization grow, and help Bert earn National honors on behalf of the VFW.

Ep. 18, Bert Cusimano for the VFW by AVR SFC Podcast In this episode we welcome back Bert Cusimano and discuss his role as a Post Commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, or as you probably know it, the VFW. If you'd like to know more about what the VFW does for veterans from the local all the way up to the national level, this is the....

This is a rally call for our members and listeners to attend tonight's recording of the SFC Podcast. As mentioned before we will be joined by VFW Post #3652 Commander Bert Cusimano where we will be discussing all things regarding the VFW organization. For our veteran members...I think this is an important opportunity to spread the word about what the VFW does. Sure, many of us are members and attend local meetings where we get to meet and network with other veterans around our community, but the VFW is something so much more than that. I am just learning of what the VFW does at it's highest levels. One of those things is that it serves as lobbyist in Washington DC where they fight tooth and nail to defend and extend our EARNED benefits. Do you or a loved one have a service related disability? Does someone you care about depend on the benefits they have earned in their time of service? Have you ever had to fight to receive the benefits you earned through your time of service? If so, in a very large part, you can thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization and those who dedicate themselves to it's cause. Bert is one of those people that has placed the needs of others first. He has proven his commitment to the cause by dedicating his time and efforts to earning the position of Commander of our local post. Furthermore, at the time of this message, Bert happens to be the nation's leading recruiter into the VFW. At the end of this month, if he holds his narrow lead in recruiting The VFW will recognize his efforts with a commemorative 1 of 1 ring. I can think of no one better to help earn this honor and recognition. Please encourage anyone who may be interested in joining or supporting the VFW to listen along with us. I really hope to see you there.

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 51 members

This is a rally call for our members and listeners to attend this Thursday's recording of the SFC Podcast. As mentioned before we will be joined by VFW Post #3652 Commander Bert Cusimano where we will be discussing all things regarding the VFW organization. For our veteran members...I think this is an important opportunity to spread the word about what the VFW does. Sure, many of us are members and attend local meetings where we get to meet and network with other veterans around our community, but the VFW is something so much more than that. I am just learning of what the VFW does at it's highest levels. One of those things is that it serves as lobbyist in Washington DC where they fight tooth and nail to defend and extend our EARNED benefits. Do you or a loved one have a service related disability? Does someone you care about depend on the benefits they have earned in their time of service? Have you ever had to fight to receive the benefits you earned through your time of service? If so, in a very large part, you can thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization and those who dedicate themselves to it's cause. Bert is one of those people that has placed the needs of others first. He has proven his commitment to the cause by dedicating his time and efforts to earning the position of Commander of our local post. Furthermore, at the time of this message, Bert happens to be the nation's leading recruiter into the VFW. At the end of this month, if he holds his narrow lead in recruiting The VFW will recognize his efforts with a commemorative 1 of 1 ring. I can think of no one better to help earn this honor and recognition. Please encourage anyone who may be interested in joining or supporting the VFW to listen along with us. I really hope to see you there.

We are going to take a rain check on tonight's episode with Bert. I have spoken with him and we have decided to reschedule for next Thursday, March 28th, at the usual time of 10:00PM CST. PLEASE, if you are available to join us with your questions, plan on doing so. It has also come to my attention that we have the opportunity to help Bert win a national recruiting award with the VFW. I will update more details about this in the coming days, but this is something AWESOME that we can do for one of our fellow community members. I hope to have as many of you as possible with us next week to help a fellow veteran out. Until then, thank you for all that you do in supporting AVR.

Come join us in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server tonight starting at 9:00pm CST as we speak with VFW Post Commander Bert Cusimano about the VFW and what it's all about.

https://discord.com/invite/h8xkQ3Ss

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 51 members

The AVR SFC Podcast will be recording another episode tomorrow night. In this episode Bert Cusimano will be joining us again to share the mission of the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), as well as answer any questions you, our audience, may have regarding the VFW. Please don't miss this opportunity to learn about an organization that we could not be more proud to be a part of.

If you have not participated in a live recording, or listened to the SFC Podcast please give us a moment of your time and show your support for the nation's foremost Non-Profit dedicated to the betterment of the men and women who have served our country in time of war.

Join us in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server tomorrow night, 3/21/2024, starting at 9:00PM CST to show your support. We hope to hear you there.

Invite Below.

https://discord.gg/GjgvexBtg4

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 51 members

We are thrilled to announce that the newest episode of the AVR SFC Podcast is now available! In this episode Bert Cusimano joins us to tell his personal journey, from his decision to enlist to where he is today. Bert is our first Marine and first dual branch service member to provide an interview. Listen in to hear some of the differences between the Marines and ARMY, as well as his experiences serving in the Gulf War and Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Finally Bert tells us a bit about his role as Commander of a VFW post and what he is doing to support veterans today.

Bert will be joining us again next episode to share information about what the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) is and how he has dedicated himself to the betterment of the organization and it's veteran members. If you are interested in what the VFW does be sure to join us in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server during the live interview and feel free to ask Bert anything about it. Link to the latest episode below.
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/PomqdiTx1Hb

Ep. 17, Bert Cusimano (Personal Interview) by AVR SFC Podcast Bert Cusimano joins the AVR SFC Podcast to tell his personal journey from his decision to enlist, to where he is today. Bert is our first Marine and First dual branch service member to provide us with an interview. Listen in to hear some of the differences between the Marines and ARMY, as well as hi...

The AVRFSC Podcast returns TONIGHT. We will have VFW Post #3652 Commander Bert Cusimano on for tonight's interview. I hope to see you in the in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server around 10 PM CST to welcome Bert to the podcast and our community. Our members and listeners know how tough a personal interview is, so lets gets some folks in with us tonight to make him feel welcome. Thanks for all you do, and all you have done for the veteran community. Hope to see you tonight. Link below to join.

https://discord.gg/KtrGJ2Ra45

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 52 members

Great news. We will be recording two new episodes of the SFC Podcast in the next two weeks. These episodes will feature or Bert Cusimano. Bert is my local VFW commander who has worked to build our post into one of the fastest growing in the country. The plan is to feature him in two episodes. We will record the first next Thursday, March 14th at approximately 10PM CST. This episode will explore his military career and personal life much in the same manner as the "self" episodes we have recorded before. The second episode will record the following week, March 21st around 10PM CST and will explore his dedication to the veteran community and what it means to take lead with the VFW. In the meantime Bert and Brian, our post Quartermaster, have joined the Discord server. Please feel free to ask them any questions you may have regarding the VFW. I know things here have slowed down a bit as of late, but please trust that the AVR team is doing everything in their power to work towards our goals. We have a few great things outside of the podcast that are pending, and as soon as they are a "go" we will be in a position to really make some moves. Thank you all for being here and for your support. I hope to have as many as possible join us for these upcoming interviews. Server invite below.

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 52 members

I have uploaded a recording of todays LSBDC workshop "Small Business 101". I have also uploaded the Power Point slides that correlate to the video as well as fillable Financial Worksheet and several links to the entities one needs to contact to start a small business. Todays class was very informative and provided vital information you should know if you are interested in starting a small business. Check out all the free information in the "resources" forum in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server.
https://discord.gg/m7U9KREDrA

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 47 members

I have uploaded a link to the recording of todays LSBDC webinar, "Introduction to Bookkeeping". It is a great introduction to terminology, formulas, performance tracking, and best practices regarding recordkeeping for small businesses. Check it out in the "Resources" forum of the AVRNPO.ORG Discord cannel. This info is too good for those considering starting a small business not to be shared.

AVR will be live streaming another seminar hosted by the Louisiana SBDC at Southeastern Louisiana University - LSBDC. Todays topic is "Basic Bookkeeping for Business."

The workshop begins at 11:00 AM CST and should last about an hour. After the seminar we will post any shareable information in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server for future reference in the "Resources" forum.

Not a member yet? Click the invite below.
https://discord.gg/R4egfZY5BB

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 47 members

In our ongoing efforts to to assist Veterans obtain occupational licensing, AVR has enrolled in several small business seminars hosted by the Louisiana Small Business Development Center. These courses cover everything from what is needed to start a small business, to financial and tax documentation and even how to apply for government grants through the SAM grants portal. As the courses are completed, I am able to upload and share the resources, such as worksheets and seminars that are provided. These items will now be placed in the "resources" forum in our server.
If you are interested in starting or maintaining a small business I encourage you to check out these invaluable resources. Thanks again for everything you have done to support AVR to date. We are eager to serve and continue to expand our ability to help, and this is a huge step in the right direction.

Not a Discord member yet? No problem, Click the link below to join for free.

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 46 members

AVR is honored to announce that we have received our FIRST EVER monetary donation. Suzie Lambert's generous contribution came just in time for AVR's first state and federal tax season. Her donation allows for AVR to hire a tax attorney to assist with our state and federal returns as well as counseling for future purposes. On behalf of everyone at AVR, thank you Suzie. It really does mean the world heading into 2024.

Speaking of 2024, it looks to be a great year for American Veterans Rebuilding. With your help and support, AVR has poised it self at the ready to begin its first renovation projects. Our team is currently searching for project homes, and making the necessary connections needed to begin a project. It is our goal this year to perform at least one project home, and train and certify at least one veteran in a construction trade.

As always our success depends on your support and contributions. Spreading the word, sharing our updates, listening to and sharing the SFC Podcast, and liking our posts are all great ways you can contribute to the cause. If you so choose to make a monetary contribution, it can be done easily on the Donate page of our website at avrnpo.org.

Thank you all again, we can't wait to see what this new year brings.

Ep. 16, Kelly Finley Miller (Professional Interview) by AVR SFC Podcast Kelly-Finley Miller revisits the SFC Podcast to share her expertise in Children's Behavioral Health and Development with a focus on children raised in a veteran household. Don't miss out on this invaluable and free insight and advice from an expert who has dedicated her life to ensuring our children...

I am pleased to announce that the latest episode of the AVR SFC Podcast in now published.

In this episode we revisit our previous guest Kelly Finley-Miller, to explore her professional expertise in the field of Childhood Development. .

Don't miss out on this invaluable and free insight and advice from an expert who has dedicated her life to ensuring our children grow in a healthy and supportive environment.

Thank you for all of the support to date, click the link below to listen in.

Ep. 16, Kelly Finley Miller (Professional Interview) by AVR SFC Podcast Kelly-Finley Miller revisits the SFC Podcast to share her expertise in Children's Behavioral Health and Development with a focus on children raised in a veteran household. Don't miss out on this invaluable and free insight and advice from an expert who has dedicated her life to ensuring our children...

We will be recording another episode of the SFC Podcast tonight in the AVRNPO.ORG Discord server. This episode will feature Kelly Finley-Miller. Some of our listeners may have head Kelly's personal interview where we discussed what it takes to love and continue to work with a PTSD Veteran as a spouse.

This episode we will meet Kelly the professional, and explore her expertise as a School Psychological Examiner. We will be focusing on children's behavior and mental health, and how they can be affected in a veteran household.

Kelly's educational background includes...
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology from Missouri State University

Master of Arts in Special Education (M.A.Ed) from the University of Phoenix

Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) in Educational Leadership from Missouri State University

Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavioral Analysis from the University of North Texas

Professionally, Kelly's credentials include but are not limited to...

School Psychological Examiner NIXA Public Schools (current)

Birth to Grade 3 General Education Teacher

Early Childhood Special Education Teacher

K-12 Special Education Cross-Categorical Teacher- Mild to Moderate Disabilities

Birth-Grade 12- Special Education Teacher Severe Developmental Disabilities

We are honored to have this opportunity and encourage anyone with children to tune in tonight so that we can field questions as they come up. If you cant catch us tonight be sure to listen to the episode on the SFC Podcast this weekend when it is uploaded.

Recording will begin around 9:00PM CST. Click the link below to join in.

https://discord.gg/yHjA2GVjAw

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 46 members

We will be recording an episode of the SFC Podcast tonight. For the second Family episode my wife Jessica will join me. It would be great if we could have as many significant others as possible join us. Jess and I will explore our relationship, and we will focus on her perspective of living with and helping a veteran find his way. We would love to hear from as many of you as possible on this one. The participation in chat during the episodes has been outstanding, but we would like to bring more spouses into the live conversation this season so that we can address others questions, input and advice. Thank you all for keeping me going, I know its been a while since we recorded. I've been working on AVR's first fundraiser media. Hope to see you here tonight, 10:00 PM Central Standard Time.

Join the AVRNPO.ORG Discord Server! The AVRNPO.ORG Discord channel is where the AVR SFC Podcast is recorded. It also serves as a social hub for veterans. | 46 members