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Assistance for military veterans with food, housing is available for those who served
A soldier's mission doesn't end on the battlefield it continues long after - and in many cases efforts are underway to make sure veterans who need help, get it.
FOX 2 (WJBK) - A soldier's mission doesn't end on the battlefield, it continues long after - and in many cases, efforts are underway to make sure veterans who need help, get it.
Soldier’s Angels is a group running a food drive for veterans and low-income active military in Southfield. People who served our country experiencing some degree of food insecurity.
"In the military, there’s just a closer bond because we spend 24-7 together under some very drastic environments," said Joe Munoz, Soldier's Angels. "By helping them with food distribution, it gives me the answer why I was able to come back after my deployments and gave me a sense of purpose for continued service for my community."
"They expressed to me how much the food we provide them on a monthly basis helps them significantly," said Elise Larkin, Soldier’s Angels.
While some data suggests other challenges some veterans like homelessness may be on the decline in Metro Detroit the Department of Veterans Affairs still has ambitious goals. underlining what is still an issue.
This year they are hoping to place 38,000 homeless vets in permanent housing.
And engage with at least 28-thousand unsheltered vets to get them housing and other services
"We as a community, as a state, as a city, have done a lot of really important work to move the needle," said Adam Hollier, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency. "It just hasn’t gone far enough."
According to Hollier the agency's director, the state has the 10th-largest veteran population in the country. A little over half a million people who served.
"We believe that number’s higher," he said. "When I took this job we had 135,000 people that we had identified as veterans that we could connect with. Today that number is 350,000. We’ve more than doubled the amount of people with connect with but that still leaves a huge gap."
Part of why that gap is so important is because part of the way funding to address homelessness among vets and other support services is doled out at the federal level depending on who we know about.
"Day in and day out, I talk to veterans who are like, 'Well those benefits are for somebody else, somebody else needs those more,'" Hollier said. "When the reality is, if they are not taking advantage of those benefits, then the benefits don't happen for other service members."
The state’s Veterans Affairs Agency is using $2 million to combat homelessness. But everyone working on the problem agrees, it’s far from enough to better serve a community that has served us.
To learn more about Soldiers' Angels, go HERE.
For more on the Michigan Affairs Agency, go HERE.