Caring for the Homeless Veterans
 

They fought for America’s freedom, and now some of them are living on our streets.  Now here is how one local group is working hard to help them out.  It’s a problem that’s getting worse.  Soldiers are returning from combat and finding themselves living on the streets.

At any given time, there are about 100 veterans in Amarillo facing that same situation.  Richard Collins spends one weekend a month making sure the homeless vets in our area are well taken care of.  “They gave to our country.  We need to give something back to them.”  A Vietnam vet himself, he’s happy to work with other volunteers to provide the homeless vets lunch and anything else they might need to get by.  The group passes out information that might help them with disabilities and things of that nature.  We bring bibles, we bring clothes and hygiene items for them.  During the winter time we gather blankets, coats and gloves for them. 

There are some vets that have not lived indoors since they came home from Vietnam.  Some do not have even a sleeping bag or a backpack and often sleep under bridges.  They sell plasma to buy cigarettes.  A lot of these vets come back home thinking everything will be normal, they find out that families aren’t normal, relationships have changed over time, so it’s very difficult to adjust.  It’s that lack of normalcy that leads many of these vets to feel lost, with nowhere else to turn.  And it’s not just those who fought in Korea or Vietnam, but also those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Collins says, “It just gives you a good feeling in your heart.  It just makes you feel good to know that you can help others.”

There are new efforts being made on the national level to help out these homeless vets as well.  The VA is teaming up with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to transition these vets from the streets and shelters to some type of permanent housing.

 

This was put together from an article by Kreisten Guilfoos of channel 10, Amarillo, Texas.