Sailors on leave aid veterans' shelter near Lake Worth

Sailors on leave aid veterans' shelter near Lake Worth
Palm Beach Post - FL, United States
By BILL DIPAOLO

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Rather than cruising the mall, about two dozen Navy sailors spent their liberty time Saturday painting and landscaping a local shelter for veterans.

"It's a great honor to help these men," said sailor Ron Deau, 22, taking a break at the Stand Down House in suburban Lake Worth. "If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have America."


The cleanup was a big morale boost for the residents, said Vietnam veteran P.J. Connolly. The 59-year-old Army veteran had been homeless and living in the Everglades before he came to Stand Down seven months ago.

"We really appreciate their help. These guys could be at the beach. This means a lot," Connolly said.

The motivation for the cleanup started while the sailors were aboard the USS Doyle off the coast of Africa several weeks ago. They wanted to return the good feeling they had gotten from the care packages their families sent them. They contacted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which put them in touch with Stand Down, said sailor Tim Clay, a 23-year-old from Madison, Wis.

"Some of these veterans think nobody cares about them. Well, we wanted to show them that people do care," Clay said during his lunch break.

The 28-bed shelter, on Davis Road near the Lake Worth Drive-In, was started in 2000 to help the growing number of homeless veterans. About 200,000 veterans nationwide are homeless, according to Veterans Affairs.

More than 19,000 live in Florida, and between 1,000 and 2,000 live in the woods and in abandoned buildings in Palm Beach County, said Casimiro Hampton-Crockett, Stand Down's administrative director.

"We already have a big homeless population here in Palm Beach County. Now we're expecting a big increase from the next generation of veterans from Iraq," Hampton-Crockett said.
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