It should be an oxymoron.

Tragically for 50,000 American Veterans tonight, it’s not.

Homeless Veterans are still very much present across our United States. Alone or with children, they’re living in cars, under bridges, hidden within parks, abandoned buildings, desolate, deserted alley ways, locking themselves within storage units and other places not meant for a human being to survive, let alone live.

Many homeless Veterans are among the 8,000 former servicemen and women who commit suicide each year. That’s 22 Veterans a day. Each and every day, Veterans who often can’t bear to ask for help they’ve earned and deserve, choose to end their lives.

As a nation, we’ve made enormous progress towards a future in which no Veteran is homeless in America; to honoring our collective sacred trust to those who have borne the battle and their loved ones.

But there is much more to do.

More that cannot be done by one person, agency or program alone.

At the 2014 Homeless Veterans Stand Down in Miami, an annual event that provides hot food and showers, a safe place to sleep for the weekend, healthcare services, a Veterans Court, benefits and housing specialists, Carrfour Supportive Housing’s Operation Sacred Trust (“OST”) program provided immediate, permanent housing to Veterans who arrived at the event homeless and left two days later with keys to their new residences.

The 2015 Stand Down in Miami takes place from May 1-3 at the Robert King Park, 7025 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33126. And this year, Operation Sacred Trust has even more ambitious plans — to offer permanent housing to 15 homeless Veteran families during the Stand Down weekend.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program, OST is able to provide case management, resiliency training, and financial help that becomes a bridge from homelessness to housing stability. Since October 2011, OST has helped prevent and end homelessness for more than 5,000 Veterans and their family members in south Florida.

But success giving a Veteran who has honorably served our nation includes more than housing. Often, these Veterans move into housing while awaiting decisions on disability claims and other resources that are vital to their ability to keep up housing stability.

The program is asking residents of South Florida to come together for ending Veteran homelessness this week by contributing items most Veterans are unable to buy immediately upon moving into their new homes: groceries, kitchen supplies, and other essentials such as sheets, blankets, pillows and basic furnishings.

Individuals able to give supplies directly should call Operation Sacred Trust at (855) 778-3411 x816. Those able to contribute money to allow OST staff to buy supplies for Veterans can make tax-deductible contributions at www.carrfour.org/donate.

Let’s come together to create the future we know is possible — a future in which no Veteran is homeless in America.

Together, we will succeed.

Seth Eisenberg is President/CEO of PAIRS Foundation, one of three partner agencies in the Operation Sacred Trust initiative, and a long-time industry leader in relationship skills training.

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Tagged as: carrfour supportive housing, homeless veterans, homelessness, Miami Homeless Veterans Stand Down, operation sacred trust, Supportive Services for Veteran Families, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Categorised in: American Life, Housing, Military Families