Residents and staff of the Veterans Home of California-Ventura (VHC-Ventura) will mark the Home’s first decade with a Founder’s Day celebration on December 4 in Ventura.
Then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dedicated the Home on December 4, 2009, opening the facility and completing a project that was more than a decade in the making. It became the fifth in a system that now includes eight Veterans Homes of California operated by the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
VHC-Ventura was one of three Homes simultaneously planned, designed, funded, and built as part of a $321 million project that began during Governor Pete Wilson’s administration in the 1990s. The federal Veterans Administration funded $180 million while the state invested $141.3 million to build the three homes.
The 60-bed Ventura residential care facility opened a month after the William “Pete” Knight VHC-Lancaster, and about a year before VHC-West Los Angeles.
Julian Bond, Administrator of VHC-Ventura, will be the master of ceremonies at the event, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. and is expected to last about 45 minutes. Other speakers will include CalVet Undersecretary Russell Atterberry, State Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (44th District), Ventura mayor Matt LaVere, U.S. Navy Captain Trey Glaze, and World War II Veteran Ted Strzelski.
Beth Muszyinski, CalVet’s assistant deputy secretary of Veterans Homes, and Stacy Merkes, the Ventura Home’s activities director, will present platinum badges to the facility’s 10-year volunteers.
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