35 cents
VOL. 4/ISSUE 27
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016
Expansion Target acquired — progress hug commencing wows visitors
Gino Greganti, cofounder of the Human Hug Project, hugs veteran James Coyle at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center.
Mary Kemper STAFF WRITER
mkemper@veteranvoiceweekly.com
It was a proud day April 30 for members of the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center’s Expansion Committee, as it hosted a media day to show off progress on its multi-million-dollar upgrades. Committee Chairman Donn Weaver, along with Center President Bill Vagianos, gave a briefing to more than 60 members of the media and public on just how impressive the efforts are to date. Parking has already been revamped, and will continue to grow larger as the work goes on. But it’s the building and grounds that are the big stars. Spearheaded by Ivey’s Construction, the main contractor, the building’s new wing dwarfs the original building. All of the BVMC Museum’s exhibits will move there into a large, airy space — 6,000 square feet — with a landing almost completely circumnavigating the entire space. This will allow for a complete redesign. “Up till now, we’ve had everything displayed together, in no particular order,” Weaver said. “Now, we’ll have everything displayed in chronological order, from the American Revolutionary War to the present.” A tower has been constructed at the west end of the new Museum wing, designed to match towers erected all along the Florida coast in World War II to watch for enemy submarine activity.
See BREVARD page 2
Photo courtesy of the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center
Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
pmccallister@veteranvoiceweekly.com
It’s Ian Michael’s dream to go across the country hugging people. No, seriously. The Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran had debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. In his darkest time, Michael went back to his mother’s to try to find some meaning and purpose in life. There he had a dream about riding a bicycle across the country hugging people. “The Ian two years ago, you’d never seen me hug someone expect family,” the Marine Corps veteran said. Michael and his USMC buddy Gino Greganti co-founded the Human Hug Project. The two, along with Greganti’s wife, Erin, recently toured all of Florida’s Department of Veterans Affairs 33 medical centers giving fellow veterans hugs. It’s part of their #hugavet project. They stopped by the Orlando VA Medical Center — which serves Brevard County — on April 22. The trio made it to West Palm
on April 26. That center serves Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. When he had the dream, Michael had two reasons to dismiss it to random nocturnal neurological misfiring. Not only was he not a hugger, but he didn’t own a bicycle. Not just didn’t he own a bicycle, he didn’t want to own a bicycle. “When I was a kid, when I rode a bike I ended up in the emergency room,” he said. But, Michael told his mom about the crazy dream. “She asked me, ‘Were you happy in the dream?’” Michael said. “I told her, ‘Yes, I was.’” His mom offered him the best advice a parent could. She told him that if he was happy in the dream, he’d be happy if he followed it. So, Michael — who was dealing with PTSD-related suicidal ideation — started the first phase of following his dream. “I spent weeks finding out how someone bikes across the United States,” he said.
See HUG PROJECT page 4