For Immediate Release

 

Date:                October 15, 2007

Contact:            Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations

Phone:             (303) 318-8004

Fax:                  (303) 318-8070

 Web:               www.coworkforce.com

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT TO OFFER ASSISTANCE TO
HOMELESS VETERANS AT FIRST ‘STAND DOWN’ IN LARIMER COUNTY

October 30th event to be a link to survival for hundreds of individuals on the streets

 

(DENVER) – In times of war, exhausted combat units are removed from the battlefields to a place of relative security and safety.  Those troops are said to be in a “stand down” mode.  Today, on the home front, “stand down” refers to a day of grassroots, community-based intervention designed to help the nation’s homeless veterans as they face survival on the streets.

 

Stand Downs have been held all over the country, most of them taking place to coincide with Veterans Day, says Sharon Lindell, a Local Veterans’ Employment Representative with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.  “It was started by two Vietnam veterans in San Diego who decided that some action had to be taken.  Seeing veterans living on the streets was more than they could bear.  They decided it was time for veterans to help each other.”

 

The first “Stand Down” was held in 1983.  Today, twenty five years later, Stand Downs are held across the United States and later this month, for the first time, a Stand Down will be held in Larimer County.

 

Where:            American Legion Post 4

2124 County Road 54G

Laporte, CO

(970) 484-0418

When:             Tuesday, October 30

9 AM – 2 PM

 

State and county government and non-profit groups will be set up to provide a wide variety of services.  Employment Specialists from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment will be there to assist those interested in moving toward self-sufficiency.  This will include not only homeless veterans but any veteran needing assistance.

 

A wide variety of information and assistance will be provided to homeless veterans to help them in their struggle on the streets and, wherever possible, helping them transition from the streets and shelters back into their communities.  “We will provide attendees with pneumonia shots and a variety of basic services,” Lindell says.  “That includes food, clothing, dental services, legal and mental health assistance, job counseling and job referrals and, most importantly, companionship and camaraderie.  It’s a link to survival for individuals who are on the streets, often unaware of the help available to them.”

 

She urges the public to help out if they can.  “We would appreciate any canned, non-perishable food items to be donated to the event.  They can be dropped off at the American Legion Post 4 any day prior to the Stand Down.”

 

Transportation to the event will be available from the Larimer County Courthouse Offices (200 West Oak Street) in Fort Collins and at the parking lot behind the House of Neighborly Service (565 North Cleveland) in Loveland.  The free transportation will be available every hour on the hour from 9 AM to 1 PM.

 

About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services.  Most of them are veterans from the Vietnam era.  The number of homeless Vietnam era veterans is greater than the number of soldiers who died during the war in Southeast Asia.  The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that on any given day in this country, as many as 300,000 veterans (male and female) are living on the streets or in shelters, and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.  Many other veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing.

 

The barriers they face are numerous but each year, the Stand Down provides much needed assistance to keep them going and, for many, the event is a bridge to a better life.  The Stand Down is designed to transform the despair and immobility of homelessness into the momentum necessary to get into recovery, to resolve legal issues, to seek employment, to access health services and benefits, to reconnect with the community and get off the street.

 

The Stand Down is not in itself a solution but, rather, an opportunity for homeless persons to begin the process of regaining self-esteem and hope so that they can build a better future.

 

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