At the Veterans Breakfast Club,
Stories Unite Us.
Check out our online & in-person veterans storytelling programs and see our full event schedule below. All are welcome to join us!
Interested in volunteering with the Veterans Breakfast Club? We’d love to meet you.
Join us for an informal Volunteer Information Session to learn about the VBC Welcome Center, our partnership with Phase 4 Learning Center, and the many ways you can help us build a welcoming community for veterans and their families.
We’ll give you a tour of the space, explain what we envision for the Welcome Center, and talk about the volunteer opportunities that are already available—and those we’ll create together as the Center continues to grow.
Our volunteers will help greet veterans and visitors, connect people with resources, assist with our Veterans History Project by interviewing veterans and preserving their stories, photos, and artifacts, and help make the Welcome Center a place where veterans simply enjoy spending time together. We’re also looking for people who want to help shape the future of the space by suggesting programs, events, and activities that will make it an even more vibrant community gathering place.
Whether you can volunteer once a week, once a month, or just occasionally, we’d love to have you join us. Friendly faces, good listeners, history lovers, organizers, and people who simply enjoy helping others are all welcome.
Registration is requested so we know how many people to expect. Please register using the link below. We’ll be using Constant Contact for registration, and your advance registration will help us prepare for the session.
Date: Friday, July 31, 2026
Time: 10:00–11:30 AM
Location: Veterans Breakfast Club Welcome Center
5850 Centre Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
VBC Welcome Center Parking Information
Join us for a very special afternoon as we welcome one of America’s greatest heroes, Warren Goss, a 101-year-old World War II veteran who landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the 531st Special Brigade.
At 101, Warren is one of the last surviving D-Day veterans. He will share stories from that historic day, talk about his wartime service, sign photographs, shake hands, and pose for pictures with everyone who attends. This is a rare opportunity to meet someone who helped change the course of history.
We’ll have refreshments and plenty of time to visit with Warren in an informal setting. Whether you’re a veteran, history enthusiast, student, or simply want to thank one of the heroes of the Greatest Generation, we hope you’ll join us.
Registration is strongly requested due to limited space. Please register in advance to reserve your spot. Walk-ins will be welcome only if space permits.
Date: Saturday, August 1, 2026
Time: 2:00–3:30 PM
Location: Veterans Breakfast Club Welcome Center
5850 Centre Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
VBC Welcome Center Parking Information
We celebrate the U.S. Coast Guard’s birthday with an Open Conversation with USCG veterans on Monday, August 3 at 7:00pm ET. Join us as we talk with Coast Guard veterans about what makes their service so distinct—and so essential to the nation’s security and safety.
Founded on August 4, 1790, the Coast Guard is the oldest continuous seagoing service in the United States. Unlike other branches, the USCG has a dual mission: military operations during wartime and law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime safety during peacetime. It is the only military branch that operates under the Department of Homeland Security (except during wartime, when it may transfer to the Department of the Navy).
What sets the Coast Guard apart?
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Maritime law enforcement: The Coast Guard has the authority to board, search, seize, and arrest vessels suspected of violating federal law.
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Search and rescue operations: From hurricanes to sinking ships, the Coast Guard is the first call in times of maritime crisis.
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Icebreaking and navigation aid: Coasties operate in Arctic and Great Lakes regions to maintain critical shipping lanes and place navigational buoys.
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Drug and migrant interdiction: They play a front-line role in combating illegal trafficking on the high seas.
In this special birthday celebration, we’ll hear from Coast Guard veterans who served aboard cutters, on coastal patrol, in aviation, and at isolated duty stations. They’ll share stories of adventure, service, and resilience—from intercepting narco-subs in the Caribbean to medevac missions in the Bering Sea.
We’ll explore what it means to be “Always Ready”—Semper Paratus—and why Coast Guard veterans are proud to serve in a branch that blends military rigor with humanitarian urgency.
Help us mark this important anniversary by honoring the stories of those who serve in America’s maritime guardian force.
#USCoastGuard #CoastGuardBirthday #SemperParatus #VeteransBreakfastClub #VBCLive #MaritimeService #SearchAndRescue #MilitaryVeterans #CoastGuardStories
Join us at Seven Oaks Country Club in Beaver, PA for a Veterans Breakfast Club storytelling breakfast on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, from 8:30–10:30am—a warm, come-as-you-are morning of coffee, buffet breakfast, and true stories of military service.
This year, every VBC event is now completely free and open to the public. That means no charge for breakfast. But we do need a reservation, so please let us know you’re coming. Then, take a seat among veterans, family members, and neighbors who want to listen, learn, and connect.
If you’ve never been to a VBC event, the format is simple: we gather for a casual meal, then veterans (of any era and any branch) share short, first-person stories—funny, tough, surprising, and often unforgettable. You don’t have to be a veteran to attend. And you don’t have to speak to belong. Some people come to tell a story they’ve carried for years; others come because they want to understand what service really means beyond the headlines.
Whether you’re a veteran, related to one, or simply grateful and curious, this is a morning to be in the same room together—good food, good company, and the kind of storytelling that sticks with you long after the plates are cleared.
RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance.
Join us for a FREE VBC breakfast in West Mifflin at Operation Troop Appreciation (2017 Pennsylvania Ave, West Mifflin, PA 15122) on August 8 at 8:30am. Please RSVP for this free breakfast event by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org.
Everyone is welcome, veterans and non-veterans, and the breakfast will be provided for free.
We plan our usual fast-moving and wide-ranging program with lots of participation. We’ll have veterans of various ages and branches of service sharing their stories of service.
Breakfast is served at 8:30am. At 9:00am, we start the program. For the next 90 minutes, veterans share slices of their service experience. You never know what you’re going to hear, and there’s always new people with new memories to offer.
RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance. We understand that your schedule can change quickly, but advance notice of attendance always helps us and our venues prepare the program. Thank you!
Please consider sponsoring this event!
In August 1969, nearly half a million Americans gathered at a farm in Upstate New York for what would become a defining moment of a generation: the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. But Woodstock wasn’t really about music. In large part, it was about war. And the soundtrack it produced revealed the nation’s fault lines of protest, patriotism, grief, and defiance.
Join the Veterans Breakfast Club as we return to one of our most popular conversations: the music of the Vietnam War era. This time, we mark the 57th anniversary of Woodstock and add some new voices.
We’ll be joined by longtime VBC favorites Doug Bradley, Donn Nemchick, and Shaun Hall, along with two special guests who bring fresh perspective:
- Ron Farina, a U.S. Marine who lived the war these songs were trying to make sense of
- Mary Ellen Junda, a nationally recognized music historian, conductor, and educator whose work explores how song expresses social consciousness and binds communities together
Dr. Junda’s scholarship focuses on how music helps us process social change and conflict. She studies folk traditions and how music shapes as much as it represents the age.
We’ll talk about what troops in Vietnam actually listened to and what they knew about the changing music scene back home. We’ll also talk about Woodstock and what it meant.
