Newswise — San Francisco, CA , November 9, 2011 – Levi’s, best known for its blue jeans, is helping veterans battle the blues by donating clothes to be distributed at Veterans Connect, a special event reaching out to homeless veterans.
“One of the most important elements in helping someone who is struggling to get back on their feet is having decent clothes to wear to a job interview, or even just to make them feel respectable,” says Kara Zordel, Director of Project Homeless Connect, which is teaming up with the Veterans Administration to hold the event to honor all vets as part of the Veterans Day holiday. “Having these wonderful clothes from Levi’s means that many veterans are going to look sharper, feel better about themselves, and have a better chance of turning their life around.”
Veterans Connect comes at a crucial time. The U.S. is preparing to bring its troops home from Iraq but there are concerns that for many veterans, there is no home for them to come home to. “Around 17 percent of the clients that we serve here in San Francisco are veterans,” says Zordel. “The VA estimates that nationwide the number of homeless veterans is around 75,000. Clearly there is a real need for events like this to help provide them with essential services.”
The services offered at Veterans Connect will range from housing, medical care, mental health and substance abuse treatment to vision testing and eyeglasses, benefits, legal assistance, HIV and TB testing, groceries, even something as simple as a phone call home.
“Those who have served this nation as Veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope,” says Lawrence Carroll, Director of the San Francisco VA Medical Center. “The VA has set a goal to end homelessness among Veterans by 2015. Events like Veterans Connect help us reach out to all Veterans and let them know that help is available.”
Veterans Connect is a collaboration of Project Homeless Connect, the San Francisco VA Medical Center, the City of San Francisco, Swords to Plowshares, the San Francisco Vet Center and other local non-profit organizations. They are expecting more than 300 veterans to attend the event. No veteran will be turned away.
Veterans Connect will be held at the San Francisco VA Downtown Clinic at 3rd and Harrison Streets, on Wednesday, November 9th from 10am to 3pm. To date Project Homeless Connect has helped more than 32,000 people connect with services, thanks to the support of more than 22,000 volunteers. PHC has proven so effective that it is serving as the model for similar programs in more than 260 cities across the U.S. as well as in Australia and Canada.
For more information contact Kevin McCormack or go to www.projecthomelessconnect.com
About Project Homeless ConnectProject Homeless Connect makes a real difference in the lives of the City’s homeless by bringing together almost 250 non-profit agencies, private businesses and volunteers to assist San Franciscans in need. Since the program’s inception in October 2004 as a joint effort of San Francisco’s health care, housing and human service systems, Project Homeless Connect has been supported by tens of thousands of volunteers, individuals and companies giving their time, cash, clothing, food and essential services. To date, this program has provided services to thousands of the City’s most economically disadvantaged men, women and children with basic human needs and housing. Project Homeless Connect is a key component of Mayor Newsom’s 10-year plan to abolish homelessness in San Francisco. This unprecedented approach to helping the homeless has been adopted as a national model in more than 220 jurisdictions in the U.S and has also been implemented in Canada and Australia.
About San Francisco VA Medical Center SFVAMC is a 124 bed-tertiary care teaching hospital with state-of-the-art technology providing a full range of patient care services and world-class research programs. Comprehensive health care is provided through primary care, tertiary care, and long-term care in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, dermatology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, dentistry, geriatrics, and extended care. Primary and mental health care is provided at community-based outpatient clinics in Clearlake, Downtown San Francisco, Eureka, San Bruno, Santa Rosa, and Ukiah.
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