Keith Vona Joins the Sweet Buffalo Team to Talk About the Upcoming Veterans Race

Organizers are asking you to rally the troops and join this year’s Veterans Race, which steps off in just about two weeks from the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. They’ll tell us how you can take part. Right now, we’re joined by Staff Sergeant Trevor Bennett with the Army National Guard, Shawnee Gaudino, you know, with Western New York Heroes, Keith Vona of Richmond Vona, a personal injury attorneys, and Kimberly LaRussa of Sweet Buffalo. We have a packed, wonderful couch. Thank you all so much for coming out tonight.

Thanks for having us.

All right. So I know this is an annual race. It has been going on now for over a decade. But for those who don’t know, tell us a little bit about what the Veterans Race is.

Sure. The Veterans Race is an opportunity for people in the Western New York area to give back to the veterans who, let’s just face it, signed a blank check with their life to defend our country and our freedoms. The event is on November 8th, starts at 9:00 AM. It’s at the Buffalo Naval Park, and you can sign up at RunSignUp.com or you can just google Veterans Race Buffalo and you’ll find it. They have a 5K, 10K, and a Kids Race. It’s a lot of fun. Most of the money goes back to the veterans.

You know, seeing just the pictures and the footage from years past, it’s really wonderful to see the community show up for our local heroes, right? It’s generational, all ages, you know, starting from the kids, all the way up. I’ll ask you, you know, how wonderful is it to see people show up, whether they’re a veteran or not, whether they have veterans in their family, or maybe they just want to show support.

I mean, it’s great when you can bring everybody in such a small or big community together, especially if people have been through a lot of stuff in the past. If they’re still in the service and they’re not in the service anymore, we’re bringing them in to run and just have fun like the old days. It means a lot.

Well said, I mean, this year’s race, it benefits Western New York Heroes and the Buffalo Naval Park. Maybe speak a little bit about, you know, these are two groups that are no stranger to, you know, our airwaves. We’re always featuring them in some way. Right? Western New York Heroes, especially, offers so many vital resources for our veterans. Speak a little bit about that.

So as Western New York Heroes as a whole, we cover about 14 counties in Western New York, and then some, because we have a Pals for Heroes that actually is nationwide, covers every state in the United States. What we do is we help veterans stay in their homes. We get them in homes, and then we help with their financial needs, things like, you know, their lights, just giving them the support they need to stay up on their feet, get them on their feet, and things like that.

Because you mention Pals for Heroes, and we have a sweet friend here who’s got all the attention. Tell us who this is..

This is Tucker. He is with our Pals for Heroes program. I originally was supposed to be fostering him, and then we kind of grew attached to each other, so now he is my service dog. He goes everywhere that I go.

And he does seem very attached to you. Very attached. So the other receiving side of this, as we mentioned before, is the Buffalo Naval Park. Maybe you could speak a little bit about the course, you know, a course that is such a gem right on our waterfront. Talk a little bit about that.

Yeah. I mean, the course has evolved over the years, but it is… it fits right in there, right? You’re around the naval ships, the Sullivans, the aircraft that they have there, and some of the other helicopters and stuff. So it kind of has that vibe for it. It’s always been down there since this started. I’ve been in touch with Al whose our race director, and it looks like we’re going to shatter a record for attendance this year, Shannon. So come on out and join us and celebrate.

Kimberly, to hear that, it seems like the attendance is going to be shattered this year for really, two really great groups right here in Western New York. What do you make of that?

It’s amazing. You know, as Keith said, you know, these heroes put their lives on the line for our freedom, and they deserve our respect, and they deserve our support. And so to see, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people come out and support our veterans is just so important. Richmond Vona here is doing a job in our community, helping the veterans and doing so much more that I’m learning, and so I’m very grateful for their support. And of course, I was so excited when I heard they’re helping WNY Heroes because I said, “Those are my friends, I love them!” Everybody does, right?

All right. One last time before we let you go, any of you, you want to give a pitch? If anyone’s thinking about registering, they want to maybe take part in the Veterans Race, why should they do so?

Come run with this old Marine! Yeah, that’s all you need.

Can they find all the registration details?

If you just Google “Veterans Race Buffalo,” it’ll pop up. RunSignUp is where you actually sign up for the race. It’s a simple Google. You’ll be able to find everything you need.

I will say a lot of times we get people who don’t have like the internet access that want to do things like that. So if they are interested in either running or helping out with the race, they are more than welcome to reach out to WNY Heroes. They can give me a call, and I can help them out with that.

Wonderful. It’s that easy. You at home, if you missed any of this information, you’ll be able to find this entire interview up on our website: WIVB.com.