“Make something happen that brings awareness and attention
to your disadvantaged or disenfranchised group and its interests and needs”. So
went the instructions for our team’s class project. But first we had to
determine which disadvantaged group to focus on. We agreed that we wanted to identify
a group that is often overlooked – perhaps a subset of a more widely recognized
group? After throwing around a number of ideas, I remembered hearing about an
organization that focuses exclusively on helping homeless female Veterans
find both temporary and more permanent housing.
While there are Grant Per Diem (GPD) programs nationwide
that provide housing for homeless Veterans, approximately 60% of these do not
allow children and 70% of the programs that do allow children have restrictions
on the ages and number of children. Because many female Veterans are also the
sole caregivers for their children (over 30,000 single mothers have deployed to
Iraq or Afghanistan), this gap in available services is a growing problem. In
addition, the number of female Veterans is increasing. In fact, the number of
homeless female Veterans doubled between FY2006 and FY2010
(Source: "Homeless Female Veterans." National Coalition
for Homeless Veterans. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.nchv.org/images/uploads/HFV%20paper%281%29.pdf>.)
As the wife of a Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, these
statistics are particularly troubling to me. Many of my closest friends are
either military spouses or Veterans themselves. I have attended multiple
homecoming ceremonies where families have been reunited after 12 long months
apart. I will also never forget standing in a cold airplane hanger watching
sons and daughters say goodbye to a parent and sending them off to war. The thought
of an entire group of Veterans falling through the cracks after having made
such sacrifices for their country really resonated with me and I knew this was
a cause I could get behind. Fortunately, the rest of the group agreed, and
Final Salute, Inc. was happy to have our help in bringing more attention to
this worthy cause.
We are so excited to work with this amazing organization to
help an especially deserving group. Stay tuned to see our progress and impact
over the next 3 weeks!
See below for an article that speaks to the specific plight of homeless female Veterans:
Home from a long 12 months in Afghanistan. These soldiers should never have to worry about where they and their children will live....
A family reunited....
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