Our FLOTUS is an amazing woman, wife, and mother. She’s brilliant. She’s a fashion icon. She’s the role model we’ve been asking for. And yes, I’m a HUGE fan.
Now that she has us eating better and exercising more with LetsMove.gov, Mrs. Obama is shifting her attention to another societal ill – getting our homeless veterans off the streets and into the homes they deserve. These real-life heroes should never have to worry about having a roof over their heads.
“The image of even one of these heroes sleeping out in the cold, huddled up next to an overpass — that should horrify all of us,” Mrs. Obama said (1). “Because that’s not who we are. And the truth is, we know that there are simple steps that we can take — whether that’s in business or government or in our communities — to prevent and solve these kinds of problems.”
We’ve read the stories about Phoenix and Salt Lake City stepping up to help their respective homeless veteran populations. Los Angeles’ Mayor Eric Garcetti has signed on to participate in the Mayors Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness. (Side note: I am from Winston-Salem, NC. While we get more than our fair share of negative political attention these days, I am very proud to say that the first NC Mayor to sign up for this challenge was my very own, Mayor Allen Joines(2).) Click here to see if your Mayor has signed on.
The Department of Veteran Affairs reports there’s been a 24% reduction in homelessness among Veterans since 2010. That report was released in November of 2013, so presumably that number is even higher. Here’s hoping this Challenge crushes that percentage.
Footnote 1: LA Times
No comments:
Post a Comment