Rapid City Mayor and Officials Do More Than Talk About Homeless Veterans--They Spent the Night With Them!

City Officials stay the night at the homeless shelter

KOTA News
Brent Wise
August 30, 2017

RAPID CITY, SD ( KOTA TV) - The amount of homeless veteran in Rapid City is increasing and city officials are trying to raise awareness about this issue.

The Mayor, Police Chief, Interim Fire Chief and others are spending the night at The Cornerstone Mission which is a homeless shelter.

Executive Director of The Cornerstone Mission, Lysa Allison, says "they're going to do an intake, they're going to stay the night here, they are going to eat here, and they are going to see the experience of what it's like to stay at the mission."

But The Cornerstone Mission is more than just a place where people can sleep and eat.

"We'll help them get clothing, even for interviews. We help them find work. We help them find an apartment. They can go to different classes. We help them get identification so they can go and apply for jobs and for housing. We offer spiritual counseling. We have a medical clinic on site, anything that they need we try and meet their need," states Allison.

Rapid City Mayor, Steve Allender, has always been an advocate for helping the homeless especially when it comes to those who helped protect our freedom.
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Harvey Flood Waters Claimed Life of Homeless Veteran Who Died in His Wheelchair

Homeless veteran found dead in Bradenton floodwaters

FOX 13 News

Evan Axelbank

August 28, 2017

She pulled the man to the driveway, and, to her astonishment, recognized him as a homeless veteran.

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - A man was found dead in the flooding that ravaged Bradenton on Sunday.

Deputies say at around 8:45 p.m., a woman called to say she had found the man on Whitfield Ave. and 43rd Court East

"I would hate to hear one of my family members passed away that way," said Spencer, who found the man and his tipped-over wheelchair. "I ran in, grabbed my phone, dialed 911.

At first, she didn't realize what she saw in the water was a wheelchair.

"I thought that my neighbor had a garbage can out there, and I thought that is kind of silly. It was in the water, it was going to float away. I looked a little harder and I realized it looked like a wheelchair."

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Texas Veterans Have Resources During Harvey Recovery

Here's How Harvey Is Impacting Military, Veteran Benefits

Military.com

Amy Bushatz and Jim Absher

August 29, 2017

With America's fourth-largest city under water, up to 13 million people impacted across Texas and Louisiana and at least 15 deaths, Hurricane Harvey is wreaking havoc across the southern U.S.

Texas National Guardsmen aid citizens in heavily flooded areas of Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Lt. Zachary West/Army

While the Texas National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard have joined local, state and federal agencies in responding to what could be the worst natural disaster to ever strike Texas, the Veterans Affairs Department has also issued notices for a handful of benefits.

If you're a military family member, retiree or veteran in the impacted areas, several military and VA benefits have been temporarily changed in response to the ongoing crisis.

VA Hospitals, Clinics

Across impacted areas in Texas, some community health and outpatient Department of Veterans Affairs clinics are closed as a result of the storm. The Houston VA Medical Center, however, is open and fully operational, officials posted on that facility's website.

A series of mobile vet centers to provide counseling services were being deployed to impacted areas, such as Corpus Christi, or have been placed on standby, according to VA officials. Within the area impacted by Harvey are over 510,000 veterans and 115 VA clinics, they said.

The VA has also put in place their Pharmacy Disaster Relief Plan. Eligible veterans with a VA ID Card who need an emergency supply of medications can go to any CVS or HEB pharmacy with a written prescription or active VA prescription bottle to receive a 14-day supply. Veterans who need assistance can also call the Heritage Health Solutions Veterans Help line at 1-866 265-0124 to speak to a representative, officials said.

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Homeless Veterans Get Tiny Houses Built by Tiny Hands in LA

California School Children Help Build Tiny Homes for LA's Homeless

REUTERS

Jane Ross

August 28, 2017

Tiny house builder Elvis Summers (middle) stands inside the shell of a tiny house he is building for a homeless veteran with some of the children helping him build it, (L-R) Jordan Diem, Sam Diem, Elvis Summers, Skyler Hewitt (top) and McKenna Hewitt in Santa Clarita, California, U.S. on August 2, 2017. Picture taken August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Jane Ross Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man who has spent more than two years building tiny, portable homes to help house the city's homeless population recruited a group of fourth and fifth grade children to aid his mission.

Elvis Summers, 40, has built dozens of compact one-room homes on wheels. For his latest construction, a 28-foot-by-8- foot home, he has teamed up with a group of more than 100 children, aged 9 to 11, from a local charter school.

Mariposa Robles, 10, sawed planks of wood, installed floor insulation and helped raise the plywood walls of a tiny house. Around 135 children have been involved with the project, working in shifts over a year.

"It's so amazing seeing it all come together," an excited Robles told Reuters.

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Vietnam Veterans of America Win Fight For PTSD Veterans With "Bad Papers"

Pentagon expands policy to upgrade vets’ bad paper discharges

STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: August 29, 2017

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department on Monday issued a sweeping policy change to afford more leeway to veterans seeking upgrades to their other-than-honorable discharges.

A memorandum dated Aug. 25 instructs the Army Review Boards Agency — the office charged with changing military records — to give “liberal consideration” to veterans looking to upgrade their less-than-honorable discharges, or “bad paper,” because of mental health conditions or traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or sexual harassment and outlines what should be considered when deciding an upgrade.

In 2014, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had ordered the Army Review Boards Agency to give consideration to veterans looking to upgrade their less-than-honorable discharges because of post-traumatic stress disorder. The new memo expands on Hagel’s order after years of veterans asking for government recognition that troops are, in some instances, affected by service-related mental health conditions that change their behaviors and lead to disciplinary problems.

“This new guidance is something that veteran advocates should be really excited about – it’s what we’ve been asking for from the Pentagon for years,” said Kristofer Goldsmith, an Iraq War veteran who has fought for 10 years to change upgrade procedures. “This memo is filled with signals that there may yet be hope for the thousands of veterans who have been unfairly suffering the effects of bad paper.”

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Advocates, lawmakers push for answers to problem of 'bad paper' discharges
Stars and Stripes
Leo Shane III
September 13, 2016

Veterans advocates rallied on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge lawmakers deal with the problem of so-called "bad paper" discharges that prevent some struggling veterans from receiving health care, and urged the White House to intervene while the legislative process drags on.

"It's disturbing to see this issue come back," said John Rowan, president and CEO of Vietnam Veterans of America. "We saw half a million questionable less-than-honorable discharges during the Vietnam era. And to think that today there are as many as 300,000 more since Sept. 11, that's a disgrace."

Senate lawmakers have already included legislation in the annual defense authorization bill to require the Defense Department to review and improve the discharge process after numerous reports of troops being forced out of the ranks without veterans benefits due to infractions like suicide attempts and substance abuse related to post-traumatic stress disorder.
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