There are currently two important partnerships with our club that are veterans related community organizations from outside the Oakmont residences. They each perform vital service to veterans in unique ways.
North Bay Honor Flights
North Bay Honor Flight-Overview
visit them at: https://nbhonorflight.org
EIN # 93-1848072. You can also volunteer to
help. Visit nbhonorflight.org/support/ for info.
or visit our donations page here to donate.
All honor Flight Hubs are required to be a
registered non-profit in good standing
for purposes of fundraising in order to
become a recognized V.A. Hub.
There are 127 Honor Flight Hubs in America, designated by the Veterans Administration, and distributed over 47 states. Our North Bay Honor Flights inc. is the latest V.A. designated non-profit organization that is now recognized. The premiere flight(s) of our local Hub will be on April 28-30, 2025
Our Oakmont Veterans Club has been an active fund-raising partner with North Bay Honor Flights for several months, since their V.A. designation.
To date we have raised several thousand dollars for the mission, but we are just getting started! We have some exciting events planned, and some big announcements to issue in the near future about sending some of our own Oakmont Vets on the next plane load of Honor Flights. Those names, and details will soon be announced!
Speaking of members that have taken an Honor Flight, here is an interview with one. We would very much like you to meet Randy Morton:
Randy Morten on his Honor Flight (youtube.com)
With meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to excellence, the Honor Flight organizations arrange every aspect of the flights to celebrate and salute the distinguished service of our veterans from their arrival at the departing airport to the arrival of the returning flight for our nations hero’s and guests of honor.
As Randy pointed out to us, the arranged details do not end with the transportation to the airport to catch the flight, nor the arrival of the returning vets to their home field to be taken home again. There is a vast myriad of special events, dinners, and honorariums to be planned and set in motion to enhance the whole experience for the guests of honor.
Those special details and arrangements begin from the moment a veteran is selected to go on a flight, and they only expand in intensity and detail from the moment of the arrival at the departing terminal, through the flight to DC, with the many planned events and visits in our Capitol, then right through to the flight and their reception when they arrive back home.
This is why our fund raising efforts are so important. We are not simply providing a plane ride to DC and home again. We are creating an experience of a lifetime to honor our Veterans properly. And all those plans take funds to make them happen, so we need your help! Please donate what you can to the worthy program for our deserving Vets. Visit our Donations page, or go to the link above for the Hub.
Sonoma County Outreach
Joe Cholewa operates our other main Sonoma partnership serving homeless veterans in the North Bay. They provide a crucial service to our unhoused brothers and sisters, with the help of his small staff of volunteers, and the aid of multiple organizations, both of veterans’ groups and other community-based civilian organizations, and with the help of one of his vital partners. Along with the notable help of The Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 78, of Sonoma, who provides the 501C-3 status (EIN# 30-1221735) for accepting all of your tax-deductible donations, Joe’s group has provided life-saving aid for the past 7 years to the less fortunate vets, and others, ranging from the Northern California border to the Golden Gate Bridge. Please donate today if you can!
Joe sent us a report of what our Oakmont contributors have done to help our less fortunate vets this past year (2024), along with a plea for more donations and help in the coming year ahead. The report has some surprising findings about what we have accomplished, and some sobering perspectives on the level of need in our region:
J
Our Oakmont Vets Club has been actively gathering much needed donations of food, clothing, toiletries, and other supplies, together with needed contributions of cash and other aid for several months now. We are committed to help in the humane mission of compassion, reaching out to those who are in most need of our urgent help.
We conducted the following interview with Joe at his Santa Rosa Outreach warehouse in early September 2024. The audio in this version is affected at times from the shop sounds next door, but Joe is telling us important information about the Outreach program. Our video did not record a clear enough copy of these remarks, so we have included here a link to a better recorded and produced version of the interview provided to us by the Disabled American Veterans Assn. California Chapter 48.
Go to You Tube and search:
youtu.be/FXmj0apXoiQ Veteran Joe Cholewa on a mission: Sonoma County Veterans Outreach
DAV California Chapter 48 Sonoma
Veteran Joe Cholewa on a mission: Sonoma County Veterans Outreach
Below there are a couple of tables that show how much we have managed to raise, to help our most urgently in need brothers and sisters who desperately need our help right now. The need still exists, so we can’t give up on them now!
Right now, Joe, and the Outreach need our help more than ever. He had heart surgery recently, and his physical capacity has been diminished for a while. His regular crew of volunteers are helping to shoulder the workload all they can, but his operation needs some more willing hands to help out right now. If you can spare some time to aid this vital mission, please reach out to us for more details. Email us at: pngowins@yahoo.com, or to pathendricks3@gmail.com. Your help and generosity would be most appreciated and is urgently needed right now. Thank you for all you do and have been doing to help in this cause.
Watch this page for ongoing news and announcements about what we are doing with and for our partners in the months and days ahead.