Veteran Jumped From Veterans Assistance Foundation Shelter

Shelter Addresses Safety After Veteran Jumps From Window
WPR.org
VA Officials Say VAF Has 'Serious Problems' At Homeless Shelter
Monday, December 5, 2016

Officials at a nonprofit homeless shelter say they're working to address safety concerns after a veteran jumped out of a window at the facility last week.

A resident jumped from a third floor window at the shelter, according to the Veterans Assistance Foundation. VAF Executive Director Don Roach said the individual was alive when transported to the hospital.

This is the second incident this year involving the nonprofit shelter, which leases space at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center. After a veteran died at the facility in September, the VA announced they would be ending the nonprofit's lease agreement.

"The VAF has some very serious problems that it needs to address within its program and just the physical safety of veterans within their program is just part of that," said VA Public Affairs Officer Matthew Gowan.
read more here

Heartless thugs steal from homeless veterans shelter

Copper thieves leave homeless veterans inside a hot building
Video
MyNews3
Copper thieves destroy AC units to veterans building
Reported by: Venise Toussaint

LAS VEGAS (KSNV and MyNews3) -- A thief broke into the air conditioning units at a homeless veteran shelter and left the veterans inside struggling to stay cool in the summer heat. The veterans have been without air conditioning since Saturday.

U.S. Vets is a place where homeless and transitioning veterans come to get help and get back on their feet. They eat here, socialize here, and for the past couple of days they’ve been doing so without air conditioning. A man climbed on top of the roof and destroyed their AC units.
read more here

Donations for homeless after shelter fire fuel hope

Homeless Lose Everything in North Hollywood Shelter Fire
More than 20 people were sleeping inside when flames broke out. They were able to escape, but lost what little they had
NBC Los Angeles
By Oleevia Woo, Willian Avila and Gadi Schwartz
Monday, May 5, 2014

Donations can be made on the mission's website San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission.

NBC4 has a long partnership with the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission as part of the I am a Volunteer campaign. The station committed $5,000 on Sunday to help start a rebuilding fund.

About $25,000 had been raised by Sunday night.

Several homeless people lost the few items they owned in a fire that destroyed the shelter they were staying in early Saturday morning.

The San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission at 13422 Saticoy Street in North Hollywood was declared a total loss after going up in flames, officials said. The fire was initially reported just before 1 a.m as flames from a large outdoor palette fire roared next door to the building that housed the shelter.

More than 20 people were sleeping inside when flames broke out. They were able to escape, but lost what little they had.
read more here

Camp Pendleton Marine from Orlando volunteers at homeless shelter

Marines volunteer at local homeless shelter
DIVDS
1st Marine Logistics Group
Story by Cpl. Timothy Childers
January 31, 2014

Servicemembers from Camp Pendleton and local volunteers serve food at the Bread of Life Rescue Mission in Oceanside, Calif., Jan. 28. Nine Marines and one sailor, with the help of several community volunteers, prepared and served a free dinner for local homeless and others in need at the Mission.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Timothy Childers / Released)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Nine Marines and one sailor from Camp Pendleton joined forces with local volunteers to lend a helping hand at the Bread of Life Rescue Mission to prepare and serve a free dinner to local homeless and others in need in Oceanside, Calif., Jan. 28, 2014.

Many of the servicemembers who attended are members of the Prince Hall Masonic Society and organized the event with other civilian society members. The group volunteers their time to various community service activities in the San Diego area. This was the second occasion in which they volunteered at the Mission.

“Today we came here to give back to the homeless and needy and show the community that we are the kind of people with good hearts,” said Cpl. Andrew T. Gibson, motor transportation operator, Motor Transportation Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 5, 1st Marine Logistics Group, who has experienced similar hardships. “It’s only right that I give back now that I’m able to,” added the 21-year-old Orlando native.
read more here

VA 'dumped' patient at shelter with urine bottle and screaming for help

Los Angeles says VA 'dumped' patient at shelter
Veterans Affairs says its inquiries found no evidence the man was sent to the shelter against his will or without the ability to care for himself. The city attorney says the VA blocked a probe.

By Alexandra Zavis and Richard Winton, Times Staff Writers
August 14, 2011

The graying veteran in a wheelchair was found in the parking lot of a Westside cold weather shelter wearing hospital pants, carrying a urine bottle and screaming for help.

Senior officials at the Los Angeles city attorney's office say they believe James Boykin was "dumped" Dec. 1 at the shelter after his toe was removed at the nearby Department of Veterans Affairs medical center because of a bone infection. Moreover, according to city prosecutors, VA officials blocked an investigation that could have shed light on whether there were other similar incidents.

"This was an unprecedented interference with an investigation," said Jeffrey B. Isaacs, who heads the office's criminal and special litigation branch.

VA officials strongly dispute the allegations involving Boykin, adding that the city does not have authority to conduct a criminal investigation on federal property. Three internal inquiries and an investigation by the VA's Office of Inspector General found no evidence that Boykin was sent to the shelter against his will or without the means and ability to care for himself.
read more here

Michelle Obama's duty in the kitchen

,,,,at homeless shelter, that is. What a wonderful woman she really is! First she adopted military families and now the homeless.

March 5, 2009, 2:24 pm

Michelle Obama Serves Lunch at D.C. Nonprofit
By Rachel L. Swarns
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press First Lady Michelle Obama served lunch at Miriams Kitchen in Washington on Thursday.

The homeless men and women gathered at Miriam’s Kitchen as they often do on a Thursday for a cup a coffee, a hot meal, a hair cut and some help finding a job or a place to stay.

But on this day, they received an unexpected greeting from an unexpected visitor. First Lady Michelle Obama was in the kitchen, serving up mushroom risotto and a warm welcome.

“How are you doing?” Mrs. Obama asked the astonished patrons as they lined up for risotto, steamed broccoli, fruit salad and apple-carrot muffins. “My job here is to serve you.”

Miriam’s Kitchen was the latest stop on the first lady’s getting-to-know Washington tour.

“My purpose here is to listen, learn and scoop some risotto,’’ Mrs. Obama told the group of about 50 homeless men and women. She said she hoped her visit would also encourage Americans to volunteer to help the needy during these difficult economic times.

“There is a moment in time when each and every one of us needs a helping hand,’’ Mrs. Obama said. She described Miriam’s Kitchen as “an example of what we can do as a country and a community to help folks when they’re down.”

click link for more

Several updates on homeless veterans

Homeless Veterans Stand Down Helps Local Vets

WJHG-TV - Panama City,FL,USA

It's a great place," said Glenn Folds, another homeless veteran. Murphy and Folds are not alone. The Homeless and Hunger Coalition of Northwest Florida

Grant for homeless veterans center

Worcester Telegram - Worcester,MA,USA

WORCESTER— Massachusetts Veterans Inc. has received a $1.5 million federal grant to build a center for homeless veterans.

Homeless vets' facility earns grant

Stockton Record - Stockton,CA,USA

By The Record Dignity's Alcove, not yet a year old and the Stockton area's first transitional home for homeless veterans, will receive a $377000

Shelter for homeless vets to receive $2 million

Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA

Patty Murray says that a new $2 million grant from the Department of Veteran Affairs will provide money for a new shelter that will serve homeless veterans

Female vets' shelter proposed for Ballston Spa

The Saratogian - Saratoga,NY,USA

Funding sources include the Homeless Veterans Reintegration program.

Fatal house explosion leaves father to cope with scars of girls

A Fatal Explosion Leaves a Motherless Family to Deal With a Multitude of Scars

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: August 26, 2008
It should have been a night without tears for the Alghaithi family. But as usual these days, they did not get much sleep.


First, curly-haired Lina, 3, woke up screaming after a nightmare that someone was following her. Then her older sister, Twka, 5, started crying and scratching at her burn scars. Their father, Rassas Alghaithi, 29, “slept and didn’t sleep” as he shuttled from bed to bed, cradling the children, he said in Arabic on Tuesday.

By the morning, the children were calm and happy for a few hours, running through the living room. Duaa, 6, the eldest, practiced the alphabet with Twka, as Lina, blind, learned her way by sound and touch through their new space.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

After 10 months in a homeless shelter, Mr. Alghaithi (pronounced al-GAY-thee) and his four daughters moved into a light-filled apartment in a two-family home in South Ozone Park on Monday night, sleeping in their own beds for the first time since a gas explosion destroyed their apartment in Harlem in October. The explosion killed the girls’ mother and left them with severe injuries and scars, both mental and physical.
click post title for more

Washington DC Homeless Residents Get a Reprieve

Homeless Residents Get a Reprieve
After Suit Is Filed, Shelter Slated for Closing Will Continue Accepting Men

By Sindya N. Bhanoo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2008; Page B04

District officials reversed a decision to start turning men away from the Franklin School shelter yesterday after several residents filed a suit protesting their removal.

The downtown shelter, which is set to close Oct. 1, will continue to operate as a first-come, first-served facility, said Laura Zeilinger, deputy director for program operations with the Department of Human Services. She offered no explanation for the reversal.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) announced plans this year to close the shelter at 13th and K streets NW as part of his effort to move the city away from temporary shelters and to create more permanent housing for the homeless.

The shelter had announced that only 320 men on an approved list would be allowed to stay at the facility through the fall. That list included those who had the most stays at Franklin during the past 90 days, those who had 500 nonconsecutive stays since Franklin opened and those who were being referred for permanent housing by the city.

click post title for more

Homeless man restores place to pray in Salem MA

Grotto's glory emerges: Homeless man helps restore long-neglected Virgin Mary statue

By Chris Cassidy
Staff writer


SALEM — The last Mass at St. Mary's Italian Church was celebrated five years ago. The basement is now a thrift store. The rectory has been turned into apartments for the homeless.

Sandwiched in between the two is a grotto with a statue of the Virgin Mary tucked behind a small patch of grass — one of the few remaining symbols of this former parish once made up of working-class Italian immigrants.

"The grotto was reflective of the traditions that that little Italian community had," said Joe Piemonte, a longtime parishioner whose great uncle, Tony Della Monica, designed the grotto years ago. "With the church being (closed), we weren't sure whether the grotto would even remain."

A few months ago, Paul Sumares was walking down Margin Street and noticed overgrown vines shielding the grotto from sight. A 2-foot pile of dirt had filled in the tiny pond. The pipes for what was once a calming waterfall had broken.

So Sumares and Jean Dion went to work, clearing brush, pulling back vines and restoring the old waterfall.

"At first, we just wanted to clean it up," Sumares said.

Sumares never attended a single Mass at St. Mary's and until January had only visited Salem a few times. He lives and receives services at the Salem Mission, the homeless shelter that bought the property after the church closed.
go here for more
http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_204000307.html

Communities worry about effect of taking in the homeless

Everyone may say we should take care of the homeless but it has to be in someone else's neighborhood. What a shame this is.

Shelter plan upsets neighbors
Communities worry about effect of taking in the homeless
By Lynn Anderson Sun reporter
July 14, 2008

Mayor Sheila Dixon has promised to end homelessness. But that goal - which has been applauded by residents and advocates alike - is creating headaches for neighborhoods that have played host to homeless shelters in recent months.

When the city set up a 24-hour winter shelter in Baltimore's Greenmount West neighborhood last year, some residents worried that the presence of homeless men and women might dampen revitalization efforts. There were similar concerns when another shelter opened on East Fayette Street.

And when the Fayette Street shelter closed this month, there was more public consternation, this time from residents of Butchers Hill and Edmondson Heights, where two new shelters have opened to accommodate the city's homeless residents.

Both neighborhoods say they feel they are being forced to shelter the homeless. They have complained that city officials gave them little notice, and that they have real concerns about housing homeless adults near children. The Butchers Hill shelter is in a city recreation center near a school with summer classes; the Edmondson Heights shelter is in a high school to which some students will return for team practice in August.
click post title for more