[Newsletter] Keeping Our Veterans Safe During the Covid-19 Outbreak
As we all face our new reality in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Village for Vets is especially concerned for our homeless Veterans in Los Angeles who are highly vulnerable to contracting the virus. Many unsheltered Veterans suffer from underlying medical conditions, mental illness and substance abuse issues. Additionally, they often lack the resources and facilities for enacting proper hygiene that can help deter the virus.
For the time being,Village for Vets programs will continue uninterrupted. We continue to provide daily meals for Veterans at the VA’s Welcome Center, HUDVASH office and HPACT facility, and nightly meals at the Safe Parking LA lot continue. Our Veterans Emergency Fund is available to provide financial assistance to Veterans whose employment or housing has been affected by cancellations due to the virus; and we continue to raise money to help provide warm sleeping bag coats for those unsheltered Veterans to help them to stay healthy during this time. PROGRAM NOTE: Our ID Program is temporarily on hold until it is safe to resume monthly service at the VA.
We are happy to report that at this time, there have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases at the Los Angeles VA and as we all know, this could change at any time. For more information about how the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System is preparing for coronavirus, see below.
To date we have received $35,000 towards the $68,000 needed for Step Up On Second’s 205 housing units opening this year to house homeless Veterans in Los Angeles. Our deepest and most grateful thanks go to the three donors who have stepped forward to fund this effort so far. Before Covid struck we were planning a volunteer event to physically put the ‘kits’ together. We were in talks with Operation Gratitude who might potentially be able to support the kits with their special packages. We are looking forward to mounting this event when we are on the other side of this pandemic.
Please stay safe everyone!