My Observation At Project Horizon

Until then, it was unknown as to how many veterans were in need of help, who were having problems obtaining health and human services, and what resource related issues they were encountering. There were, and still are, many “problems affecting homeless veterans [which] include physical, addictive, and postmilitary psychiatric disorders; social isolation; etc.…” (Homeless Veterans: Perspectives on Social Services Use, p.20). With the number of problems needing to be addressed, it was crucial in getting the “’insider perspectives’ data from veterans…” (Homeless Veterans: Perspectives on Social Services Use, p.20). By doing this, the veterans were able to provide in their own words, the major problems and barriers they encountered while attempting to obtain social services (Homeless Veterans: Perspectives on Social Services Use). However, prior to this, homeless veterans, let alone non-homeless veterans, were getting little to no

Always, I was told from parents and elders that anyone can achieve their dreams through arduous work and dedication. Surprisingly, I hadn’t pondered this until I observed a shivering homeless person standing at the corner asking for help on one snowy, frosty winter day. This affected my life greatly. On the way, I just started thinking about the life of homeless people and how they are not fortunate enough to get their own place to live, their choice of delicious food to eat and several other amenities that we all enjoy in our everyday lives. An incident, like this, sparked an enthusiastic sense of compassion and empathy in me. Along with my family, I started thinking deeply and my thoughts to help the homeless expanded to other areas and I wanted to start helping the community around me as much as possible.

Community nurses have a task of conducting interviews to citizens and location of homeless veterans, to establish their needs. The nurse need to

was developed by the Skid Row Housing Trust with the intention of fighting homelessness with a holistic model to break the cycle of homeless. This particular organization inhabits the complexes with qualified individuals to connect residents with on-site case management, medical care, mental health services, substance use treatment, advocacy and community building (Skid Row Housing Trust, n.d.). The ground floor of the complex is occupied by the Department of Health Services’ Housing for Health division headquarters whose programs aims to house 10,000 of the county’s sickest, most vulnerable homeless in the following decade (Holland,

Homelessness is a serious issue that is looked down upon within my community. Many homeless die when it’s too hot, too cold, or too wet. The New Orleans Mission sees this a huge issue and argue that homeless people are real people who need real resources, like shelter, food, and clothes. In addition, they have found that, without supportive services, housing is often not enough to end homelessness. From helping homeless youth, to providing assistance in obtaining disability benefits, to providing transportation, to offering intensive job training assistance to homeless veterans. The New Orleans Mission operate a number of innovative

“It’s like the path of least resistance... After a while, your self esteem gets really low and you don’t feel competitive any longer… Like you are already defeated.” (Applewhite ¶ 17). A quote from a homeless veteran shows how even though he has tried to relieve himself of the homelessness, it does not always end with the outcome that he wants, which leaves him feeling defeated, as well as thousands of others. About ⅓ of the homeless population are veterans, and they are usually the ones that need the most help (VA Expands Partnerships ¶5). The struggle that homeless veterans face everyday in the United States is a growing problem that needs to be fixed because it will continue to get worse. The healthy and productive success of

Going on the end of the year service trip to Denver really opened my eyes to how many people are affected by homelessness. Homelessness can have many causes and can happen to anyone. In our societal system today once someone has reached poverty and become homeless it is very hard to recover from this cycle of poverty.

Creating an individual service project has allowed me to add depth to my high school career and provide an opportunity for my school to reach out to the globe. To help my school continue this outreach, I plan to pass this project along to an under class man who is interested in continuing this successful program. Helping individuals prepare for emergencies, build a secure financial background, and protect the environment around them are just a few successes the Beta Club has helped launch and there will be many more in the

There have been stories of hardship, stories of how people have overcome, how they have beaten the odds; but how many of those stories been of veterans and their struggle with homelessness? The stories that are shown of homelessness do not show the full extent of what those people go through. This is shown in Michael’s case, a veteran who resided in Los Angeles, a man who lived under a bridge for ten years. Michael had become ashamed of his appearance and situation, at first he would resist those who offered him help. Although it seems like it would be easy for one to accept the help that he was in need of, it is not easy for those who have been completely dependent on themselves for such an extended period of time. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has done a great deal to try to assist those in situations similar to Michael 's, but they do not have enough of an outreach to help all of those in need. Furthermore, it is impossible to know the exact number of veterans in need of assistance, and that is including the approximated amounts, they are not able to help all of those in need. However, in recent years the president has gotten involved to assist in the fight against veteran homelessness. The VA and other such programs that are aimed to help veterans have helped in a variety of areas including: general and specialty physical and mental care, rehabilitation programs, treatment programs, specialty clinics, community living centers, transitional housing,

Imagine not knowing where you will sleep tonight, not having a place to shower nor, having any money to buy food, that is the reality for thousands of homeless veterans living in the streets Los Angeles. As we look into the homeless issue in the city, we realize that the homeless call-out for

“Nationwide, spending on homeless vets is up 300 percent since President Obama took office, hitting near $1.5 billion last year. That tracks with a reduction in homeless vets by about a third (Lawrence, 2015, August 4). Progress is being made in the homeless state of veterans. However, it is not enough. If there are 50,000 homeless veterans on any given night, enough is not being done. Perhaps more of a ground effort should be made by the organizations that help veterans. Instead of waiting for the veterans to come to the facilities, go to them, under the freeways, in the alleys or the makeshift homeless camps. Moreover, we as citizens of the United States whom have depended upon these great men and women of the military, need to step up and become more involved in helping the veterans. Instead of passing by or walking over the next person you see lying on the sidewalk, stop and extend your hand to that person, whom can very well be a veteran. If that is not feasible then volunteer or donate to a local organization that is trying to help the homeless veteran. The homeless state of the veterans is all of our problem – Get Involved!!!

Over the summer I will be working with an organization called Sacred Road, which is on a Native American Reservation in Yakima, Washington. Sacred Road was started by Chris and Mary Granberry, a couple from Alabama who moved to the Reservation in 2003 to serve the struggling community there. When they moved there, one hundred percent of the homes on the reservation were affected by alcohol/drug abuse, and the average life expectancy is 40 years old. Sacred Road works with members of the community to rebuild homes, counsel teens, and run a children's care center, along with starting a church. Since the Granberry’s have moved in, the average life expectancy has increased, the suicide rate has dropped immensely, and the amount of thefts

Having all the members in the program agree upon the same mission and vision was a large wall we faced. We would come up with ideas and we could not get people to agree on just one as a whole. To finally get a common mission and vision for the program we narrowed the options down to two for each then worked as a team to combine them each into one. The ideas that were presented were all close to being the same just were all worded differently. It was not an easy task to get everyone to agree, but after arguing and bickering between members we were able to successful make a mission and vision for A Chance program. The mission of A Chance program is to eliminate youth homelessness in the Riverside area and to provide them with the education and resources to reach their full potential as caring, responsible, citizens. Our vision is to provide a safe home for the youth and to enable them to reach their full potential as citizens. Our mission and vision is to let everyone know our main goal is to help the homeless youth in the Riverside community get a second chance and to help them reach their full potential as students and community members. Once we decided on a mutual mission and vision we then had to decide on what we were going to do to reach

On January 19, 2006 NASA launched the New Horizon Space Probe from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. It soured into space via the Atlas-V rocket. The New Horizon Space Probe is part of the New Frontier Program which was developed in 2001. This program was designed to explore new frontiers via satellites in our solar system. The New Horizon Space Probe was sent into space to explore Pluto (at the time it was considered a planet) and its moons. By the time the probe reached Pluto the planet was no longer considered a planet. The budget New Horizons was around $700 million and built by the Southwest Research Institute and Johns hopkins Physics Research Institute. Along with all the scientific equipment on the prob there were a handful

My participation in Project Homeless Connect was a learning experience. Before my participation, I had assumed homelessness meant as living on the streets or in shelters without basic needs like food and clothing. These assumptions changed when I volunteered at PHC here in Rochester. There is a stigma of mental illness and drug use associated with homelessness and I have been guilty of looking the other way because I thought the same. What I realized that day is I had more in common with the people I encountered than I thought. I was familiar with many of the services offered that day. I personally know how hard it is to get those basic needs met and could have easily been in the same situation myself. I know what a difference having your basic needs met can do for you as an individual; I know how it feels to need and not have anywhere to turn.