|
Stand
down .....
Voices for Veterans Stand Down 2007
 Was
held
October 4, 2007 at the Clallam County
Fair Grounds, Port
Angeles , WA......
Click
Here for photo tour !!
 What is a Stand Down
Taken from a military R &R term which means “Rest & Recuperation.” Standing Down from all military activity to be refitted, rejuvenated and retrained for the next roll of active duty.
We hold a Stand Down at the Clallam County Fair Grounds using three buildings. One is for the service providers. The second is for the clothing issue room, and the third is a cafeteria.
Security (we like to call them greeters) is provided by the Marine Corps League.
When a person arrives at the fair grounds they are greeted and shown what the layout is, (drawings are available) all Veterans are encouraged to have something to eat.
They are “checked in” which means that they are given a sheet with all of the service providers on it and are invited to wander through the building investigating what services they might utilize to do them the most good. Minimum personal information is taken, if they wish to access some of the services we provide, at that time more information might be required.
Showers are available; they are private showers with soap, shampoo and clean towels provided, they are at no cost to the homeless.
For a person to be able to visit the clothing room they must visit three (3) service providers in building two, to see what assistance is available to them. Once they have received three initials from assistance providers they are able to take their initialed sheet to the clothing room and receive what they need. The clothing room is run by the Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary.
The cafeteria is run by the Serenity House of Clallam County,
where a hot meal is served with a meat, a vegetable and a
starch. The meals also include rolls, a green salad, a desert
and something to drink; water, soda pop, coffee and/or tea.
This food is bought through the grant money, donated by the
Food Bank of Clallam County, and by one or more of our local
super markets. The sodas are donated by a local beverage distributor.
Voices for Veterans Stand Down 2007
The number of veterans served
205 Persons attended the
stand down
36 Male homeless Veterans
5 Female homeless Veterans
Service providers and services provided
The VA Outreach Coordinator;
Benefits counseling
Olympic
Peninsula
Community Action (OlyCap):
In-home
care, food distribution, child care services, home weatherization and minor home
repairs, emergency shelter, job readiness training, home delivered meals,
assistance in permanent housing, adult day care, transportation assistance,
dental and oral health.
Washington State Employment Security Department Veterans Unit:
Employment
services, resume services, application assistance, unemployment information
Serenity House of
Clallam
County
:
Emergency housing
Peninsula Community Mental Health:
Veteran
re-adjustment counseling, drug and alcohol abuse counseling.
Clallam
County
Veterans’ Assistant:
Access to the Veterans Relief Fund and referral
Medical assistance:
Medical
Doctor; health screenings, aids counseling, smoking cessation, hepatitis
screening, diabetes screening, vision checks, with prescription (reading)
glasses available. Flu shots, tetanus shots and pneumonia shots were also
available
The Housing Authority of
Clallam
County
:
Housing assistance
Barbers:
Hair cuts; both men and women
Clallam
County
Veterans’ Center:
VA claims through the DAV
Sequim
Community
Help
Center
:
Life
counseling, employment assistance, energy assistance, transportation and housing
assistance
Senior Information and Assistance
VA Health Care Sign Up
West End
Outreach
West End
Chemical Dependency
Clothing room:
Cold
weather and wet weather clothing was available in the clothing room as well as
new underwear tee shirts sweat shirts and sweat pants. Blankets, ponchos,
personal hygiene kits, boots, jackets, denim pants, winter vests and various
other articles of clothing could be picked up by veterans.
Showers were available at no expense to the veteran and vouchers were
handed out for access to shower facilities after the stand down was over
Vouchers for laundry services
A hot meal was served; coffee and pastries (continental breakfast) was
available all day
Internet access and local phone calls
A dental hygienist for dental health screenings and arrangements for
follow up appointments
Food kits (non-perishables) could be picked up at the clothing area
Phone cards were available to be picked up from various service
providers
Significant
/ noteworthy activities or issues
We saw an increase of
veterans coming in together from the outlying areas of
Jefferson
County
and the west end of Clallam and
Jefferson
Counties
. Some of these veterans are from
the very hard to reach portions of the homeless population.
We were able to
coordinate with Clallam and Jefferson Transits to just take the number of
veterans wanting to go to the stand down. We also produced a card that we handed
out to veterans as well as being attached to our advertising poster that was
honored by the transit companies, they are to submit that number to us after the
stand down is over.
We continued to see
some of the veterans that we have seen from stand downs past who stopped by to
report that they are still doing well. Some brought with them others that they
felt could benefit from the stand down.
We saw veterans that
had an opportunity to feel that somebody does care about them with no
questions asked no hassles and no pre-judgments. Some of the quotes are;
One of the veterans who came to visit was at one time homeless said
“this would have been a great thing back when I was on the streets in Tacoma,
I think that I would have gotten back on my feet much earlier.”
We are in negotiation
with several organizations in
Jefferson
County
to put on a stand down event on the east end of the Olympic Peninsula. The date
and location is yet to be determined but I feel confident that we will be able
to accomplish that in the near future.
Some
of the comments made were:
“I was homeless for several years in
Tacoma
, if there was an event like this when I was on the streets, I would have gotten
my act together much sooner”.
“It was a real blessing today, I was out of my medications (blood
thinner and a Rx for hypertension) and I was able to get a weeks worth to get me
through until my regular pills came in”.
“This was a tremendous
opportunity to be able to sign up for VA health care without having to go to
someplace like
Seattle
”
“This is a great thing that you do here, you are really helping a lot
of people”.
|
Showers