An event gives back to local heroes who've sacrificed for our country.
The 8th annual Stand Down for Veterans event was hosted by the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue.
More than two dozen vendors attended the event designed to help our local heroes.
Homeless, almost homeless, and unemployed veterans were able to get two free meals. They were also given a health check-up, haircut, clothes and other services.
Organizer Tim Hilton said many veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan still face issues and may need some type.
"Any type of issue that a veteran and their family would experience," said Hilton. "We have somebody here that can talk to them and possibly help them get those problems resolved."
The event is held
My personal connection to the homeless veteran i seen that sunday is that he had fought for are country. And we basically didn't give him anything for when he came home to live on. I wanna make sure people who do time in the service and go to war have somewhat of a retirement for food , a home, and cloths. I'd like lots more people to volunteer to help these things happen. And with all the education we have nowadays for people to get we should be able to do this
More than a half million veterans in the United States are homeless at some time, and on any given night more than 300,000 are living on the streets or in shelters.
In spite of having many advantages, veterans over-represent in the homeless population. The question “Why?” begs an answer. Forty years have passed since the Vietnam Conflict ended and homeless veterans became a representative image in American society. Surprisingly, it appears there are no studies on the factors contributing
Destitute veterans are a real social issue confronting our general public today. Vagrancy among United States veterans are of specific concern to the general public in light of the fact that everybody sees a percentage of the weights confronting vets after coming back to regular citizen life. Who are homeless veterans then? The U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs
In America today, there are between 2.3 and 3.5 million people experiencing homelessness, and nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults have served in the armed forces. There are about 200,000 veterans experiencing homelessness on any given night. Considering that this number is so large, there should be several federal agencies helping, but there is not. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the only agency that works to resolve the issue of homeless veterans.
Veterans face many challenges when transitioning from the service. Those that have served shift from a fairly structured and ridged way of life to the less structured and more chaotic civilian life. Many veterans, especially those that have been in combat or have had to personally deal with catastrophic situations, have a very hard time adjusting and often require significant levels of assistance. Sadly many veterans fail to get help, either because they do not wish to appear weak or they are simply turned away.
Imagine one making a huge decision to leave family, friends, and a familiar lifestyle to go serve and protect their country for months or years at a time. Imagine one risking their life and putting forth their time just to come back to no home, money, or health care while have developed a mental illness. The government promises all of these benefits one may never see and they end up on the streets without a home finding ways to cope which may lead to addiction. A study shows that “There are estimated to be about 50,000 homeless veterans on any given night with about 1.4 million others at risk of becoming homeless, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans said, citing government statistics” (Shaw). Many of America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, and many other wars. Nearly half of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era. Two-thirds served their country for at least three years, and one-third were stationed in a war zone. Homeless veterans all across America come from different backgrounds and homelessness does not discriminate against gender. These veterans, including males and females, suffer from homelessness due to: being unemployable; suffering economic hardships; battling substance abuse, and lacking proper legal aid. Yes, there are plenty of resources out there to assist the homeless veterans that may help some but there are still too many veterans living on the streets.
Some problems I discovered while doing my research are that many Veterans don't receive proper medical care and it is often hard for them to find. They are not automatically enrolled in Va benefits when they return home and have to apply for them. Those that have access to benefits often find themselves on waiting lists to receive benefits.
Fact: VA’s specialized homeless programs served more than 92,000 veterans in 2009, which is highly commendable. This still leaves well over 100,000 more veterans,
The majority of homeless veterans have service connected disabilities that are a direct result of military service; this contributes to a high risk of homelessness among veterans. Unique military skills that are non-essential in the civilian sector, combat related health issues, fractured family relationships and the lack of affordable housing are other factors. Many of them lack a social support network and/or someone to assist them with getting assistance from the government. They may be unaware of the different services they require and are
The issue that has been addressed throughout this study is veteran’s rights. The issue of veteran’s rights is still being pursued and is near and dear to me. Not only am I a veteran, but I come from a long line of men and women who have proudly worn the uniform in defense of our nation. Between the mindset of the American public, to the cases presented before Congress, this is an ongoing dilemma. Caring for our brothers and sisters in arms is the socially responsible thing to do. However, many roadblocks must be torn down before this can come to fruition.
These individuals are considered ill individual’s which need health care, training, and rehabilitation. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki had previously designed a 5-year plan which could possibly end the epidemic of homeless veterans. The joint effort of work between the US Government, businesses, veteran service organizations, and private sectors they would make the solutions work. This epidemic is a nation tragedy, which means all organizations, government, and the rest of society should help move it towards
United States., Congress., Senate. (2007). Looking at our homeless veterans programs: how effective are they?: hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, March 16, 2006. Washington: U.S.
Moreover, in most communities, especially the cities, these veterans who are in their 20s and 30s are found loitering around church buildings, shopping centers, and under the bridges due to the fact that they don’t have anywhere to stay, someone’s, you see them around traffic light signers on the street with placard written on, homeless veterans Vietnam war begging for money or food. This is a big disgrace to the United States at large, and has creates a huge problem since the government has been relentless to intervene to the crisis. However, according to the National coalition for homeless Veterans,
The large amount of veterans who are homeless is a major issue in this world because out of 22.5 million United States veterans, between 529,000 and 840,000 are homeless at some time during the year, which was calculated by The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. As there is a big number of veterans who are homeless, there are still about 1.4 million veterans who are at risk