Las Vegas Pageant Warrior Women Fight For Homeless Female Veterans

Pageant contestants are ‘fully woman and fully warrior’ 
Las Vegas Sun
By Jeanne Brei, Special to The Sunday
Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015

The competition is “a place for us to be fully woman and fully warrior with great camaraderie with our fellow sisters-in-arms,” said competitor Kerri Brantley

COURTESY OF ADAM STERNBERG/HIGH PERFORMANCE PHOTOGRAPHY

Contestants in the Ms. Veteran America pageant take a stroll in downtown Las Vegas.

There are evening gowns, a talent competition, an interview question, a tiara and a sash — but don’t call Ms. Veteran America a beauty pageant. The judges don’t consider age, marital status or how a woman looks in a swimsuit when determining a winner.

These contestants all are active duty or military veterans using the competition to raise awareness about the challenges many women in the military face, including homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and sexual assault.

For instance, an estimated 55,000 female veterans are homeless, and female veterans are the fastest-growing homeless population in the United States.

The 25 finalists coming to Las Vegas for the Oct. 18 competition will be judged first on their military history and their advocacy for women in the military, then on their talent and interview answer. The pageant’s mission is to honor the contestants’ grace, poise and service, and raise money for Final Salute, a group that helps find housing for homeless female veterans and their children.

Money raised during this year’s pageant will pay for housing and prevention programs for female veterans, including financial assistance for utility bills and groceries. In four years, the Ms. Veteran America competition has helped Final Salute raise more than $1 million to combat homelessness among female veterans.
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