According to the Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Division http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=1 on any given day there are 154,000 male and female homeless veterans on the streets at night. These men and women who have served our country with due diligence and sacrifice can not even live in a home or an apartment. They have been forgotten by us and this is an atrocity. When you walk downtown and come across a homeless person, most people's first reaction is that of disgust and then pity. Some people will give them money and others will shout obscenities. What right do we have to treat any homeless person with such contempt that we look down our nose at them.
Most homeless suffer from both mental and physical diseases such as alcoholism and drug abuse, most homeless veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and are Vietnam Veterans. At the time of release from the military after Vietnam, PTSD was not considered a actual mental disorder until years later. They could not receive treatment from the Veterans Affairs department, and at the same time these men could not actively reintegrate into our society after spending many years in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia where they saw atrocities that you could only imagine.
At my job I try to treat each and every homeless person with respect, although that does not always work it is still worth the time and effort to try. The reason for this is not only kindness towards others but I am a firm believer in Treat others and you would like to be Treated. This philosophy will go a long way and not only that you do not know whether the homeless person you are talking to might be a veteran or not. Not that is should make any difference to you.
This coming Thanksgiving Holiday, instead of throwing out your leftover food, if it is still canned or wrapped why don't you take it to a Food Bank, this year our Food Bank is getting smaller because there is less money to fund it. If you have extra blankets or clothes don't take it to Goodwill (you have to pay for the clothes there) instead take it to the Veterans Home where they have stores there for Veterans who can get the supplies they need.
There are numerous programs that you could look into below I am adding some links for anyone interested in seeing what you can do to help the homeless:
http://www.neighborhoodproperties.org/Housing%20Services.htm
http://jfs.ohio.gov/veterans/homeless/orgDirectory.stm
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