FLVCS Stands Up to Help Homeless Vets
Florida Veterans for Common Sense (FLVCS) participated in the 2021 Sarasota County Homeless Vets Stand Down on June 26th. As an original co-founder of the Sarasota County Homeless Veterans Stand Down in 2000, FLVCS has participated ever since.
The Jewish Family & Children Services of the Suncoast (JFCS) hosted and sponsored this year’s Homeless Vets Stand Down. Shellie Legarsky was the chairperson for the event.
Gathering the Gear
FLVCS participated in the planning of this year’s event. One of our missions was to send a crew to the VA at Bay Pines and pick up surplus gear which included boots, packs, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and other gear that would be useful to homeless veterans. Jim Dirmann went with Bob Clapp and Dave Taylor who drove their pickup trucks to Bay Pines. They loaded and transported all of the gear back to JFCS in Sarasota where they unloaded it.
Vetting the Vets
On the day of the Stand Down, FLVCS had a number of its members participate from 8:00 A.M. till noon at the Sarasota Fairgrounds interviewing homeless veterans to determine if they may be eligible for VA benefits. Those individuals were: Rhana Bazinni, Doug Brough, Mike Burns, Jim Dirmann, Richard Mc Daniel, Philippe Koenig, Tom Meehan, Hector Muniz, Dennis Plews, and Rich Scissors.
Twelve homeless veterans filled out our Application for Benefits form. After the Stand Down, we sent those applications to Marc McCabe, Bureau Chief, Vietnam Veterans of America, in St. Petersburg, for review and processing.
Job Well Done
The Homeless Stand Down event was a big success with many homeless veterans attending. There was a great turnout of community support. FLVCS appreciates and wants to thank all of our members who participated in this year’s Stand Down. They helped make it a great success.
Future VA Homeless Events can be found at VA Homeless Programs.
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