The Labor Department announced March 8th it has $600,000.00 on hand to help homeless veterans. It is estimated that this would assist 10,000 veterans reintegrate into society. The one with no jobs?
These grants are titled “Stand Down” grants to States and local communities and are provided for services including, food shelter, clothing and employment assistance. In some locales the money goes to basic core services like showers, haircuts and medical care to enhance the veterans opportunity to procure a job.
The grants are part of the Administration’s initiative to end veteran homelessness by 2015, yet the program is currently under scrutiny in the face of budget cuts that have become a top priority. The budget passed by the Republican controlled Congress for 2011 would eliminate these grants.
The irony of course being that we will only see a surge in homelessness. But this time around it is not just the veterans who are flung into un-summoned homeless scenarios. While the returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, are joining the ranks of the homeless at a much faster rate then their fellow Vietnam Veterans, so are the ranks of the civilian middle class.
We have a problem NASA, one that is way beyond some paltry grants.
I easily found a job after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force. In 2006 I lost my job at Abbott after 16 years. Since then I have looked and applied for work diligently, not only applying for jobs associated with my experience but for anything I thought I could handle. I have received zero offers. I ended up losing my home, car, retirement account and most of my possessions. My unemployment ran out at the beginning of 2010 and I have lived off of what I had saved. On the first of March I used my last dollar for rent on a small room. Since then I have gone looking for some sort of aid to keep me from becoming homeless. I have contacted the Kenosha VA, Kenosha Community Action Agency, Catholic Charities, VFW, Purple Hearts, American Legion, United Way, Goodwill, Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman even Senator Kohl’s office and received NO help or assistance and in some cases no reply whatsoever. No one really seems to care. I don’t know where else to turn. My sons can stay with their mother, but after next week it looks as if I will be joining the ranks of the homeless. My country gained my admiration seeing it work from the inside while I served it. Now I am gaining a new perspective of it from the unemployment line, food pantry and the homeless shelter.
-BM
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