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1717 Veterans suicide each day Every Homeless Veteran who moves from Homelessness to permanent housing significantly reduces their risk factors for suicide. Will you join us in reaching our goal to fundraise $4,400,000 to house 5,000 Homeless Veterans in 2023?
Did you know that Homelessness is a Contributing Factor to Veteran Suicide? The suicide rate for Veterans is 1.5 times higher than their civilian counterparts.
Veterans who are homeless feel overwhelmed and experience significant stress. Many Veterans struggle to access adequate resources, which can lead to increased levels of stress and depression, leading to hopelessness and thoughts of suicide as their only solution.
Homeless Veterans are particularly vulnerable and suffer disproportionately with depression, loneliness and isolation. They often use alcohol or drugs, to cope with the emotional and physical pain of living outside, in abandoned garages or in Homeless Shelters. Homeless Veterans are often isolated and lack access to family, social and spiritual support and nutritious foods.
Unemployment, little to no healthcare, disability all lead to poverty. Homeless Veterans tend to live in poverty and carry debt, which are major factors in a Veteran’s risk of suicide, with debt leading to feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness. Not to mention the social stigma associated with homelessness can also lead to thoughts of suicide.
Join Veterans Matter as we move 5,000 Homeless Veterans from the streets through their front doors into their homes!
To learn more about suicide amongst Veterans please visit 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, VA Suicide Prevention, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, September 2022
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Ramona age 13-Homeless Child.
“I just don’t care like I used to. I wish I never grew up”
Jack Tsai, Ph.D., Robert A. Rosenheck, M.D., Wesley J. Kasprow, Ph.D., M.P.H., Vincent Kane, M.S.W
Veterans and their families are a growing segment of the homeless veteran population and have great mental health needs. Homeless veterans with children may need additional services to support their role as parents and to help them find suitable housing for themselves and their children. Various practical and ethical dilemmas need to be considered, such as whether participation in a parenting program should be required or encouraged as part of supported housing for homeless families, how mental illness may affect parenting, and how case managers can manage caseloads of high-risk families with complex needs. These issues are esp cially relevant for participants in HUDVASH and for the growing population of homeless female veterans. Further research is needed to determine how homeless parents can be supported in their roles as parents and to identify menta health and psychosocial services that are needed to ensure the healthy development of their children and end the cycle of homelessness.
In 2022, 16% of the Veterans who received deposit and first months rent from Veterans Matter were Veterans with children.
Homeless children face a range of health, educational, and developmental risks. These risks include limited access to food, clothing, and basic needs, homelessness-assocated trauma, exposure to violence, and lack of access to education and health care.
Homeless youth have higher rates of anxiety, depression, asthma, and other physical and mental health problems. In addition, homeless chdren are more likely to experience hunger, lack of access to necessary health care, and overall poorer academic performance. For homeless children, lack of stable housing often limits oportunities and negatively impacts their overall well-being.
Homeless children are more likely to attend less-resourced schools, face reduced access to health and safety support services, and suffer multiple traumas. These educational and social barriers can make it difficult for homeless children to reach their full academic potential. For every Homeless Veteran Family that we help to house, there is a team of community and VA Social Workers providing wrap around services to stabilize the Family. Community partners and VA Social Workers utilize Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing interventions and follow the Housing First Model. With our ability to quickly send funds to landlords, Homeless Veterans and their children find themselves stable and supported with the hope of a new beginning.
We help the Veterans who need us the most – those who have nowhere else to go – they don’t have the deposit required by the landlord, and they will be
sent back to the streets, shelter, or car (this includes their children). We partner with the VA homeless program social workers who help the veterans find appropriate housing of their choice, and then secure their long-term HUD VASH housing voucher. When the veteran is ready to sign the lease, if the veterans has nowhere else to find the deposit, rather than being sent back to the streets the VA social workers access our on-line system and complete the short referral form requesting the deposit and hit send.
All conforming referrals are immediately approved. The social worker and landlord receive an email approval of the deposit and the check is sent the same day.
So rather than be sent back to the streets, shelter, or car, they cross the threshold into their own home for the brave in the land of the free. Most don’t even know it was us who did it, so you will be the Guardian Angel who answered their prayer.
https://app.mobilecause.com/form/0K_VJA?vid=n38dz
Click here if you want to be that guardian angel right now.
We help the Veterans who need us the most – those who have nowhere else to go – they don’t have the deposit required by the landlord, and they will be sent back to the streets, shelter, or car (this includes their children).
We partner with the VA homeless program social workers who help the veterans find appropriate housing of their choice, and then secure their long-term HUD VASH housing voucher. When the veteran is ready to sign the lease, if the veterans has nowhere else to find the deposit, rather than being sent back to the streets the VA social workers access our on-line system and complete the short referral form requesting the deposit and hit send.
All conforming referrals are immediately approved. The social worker and landlord receive an email approval of the deposit and the check is sent the same day.
So rather than be sent back to the streets, shelter, or car, they cross the threshold into their own home for the brave in the land of the free. Most don’t even know it was us who did it, so you will be the Guardian Angel who answered their prayer.
https://app.mobilecause.com/form/0K_
VJA?vid=n38dz
Click here if you want to be that guardian angel right now.
With over 38,000 chronically homeless veterans, our mission is to house as many of our Veterans experiencing homelessness as we can, as fast as we can. This year, the VA is committed to placing at least 38,000 Veterans experiencing homelessness into permanent housing during calendar year 2022.
Of the 38,000 Veterans the VA is committed to housing this year, your love and support for Veterans Matter has housed:
Veterans Matter works directly with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and local VA homeless programs to provide rental deposits and first month’s rent for chronically unhoused Veterans.
Veterans Matter takes requests from VA social workers whose Veteran clients are are sitting with a newly signed lease, but lack the funds for a security deposit and first month’s rent. Once the request is approved the Veteran gets the keys. Rather than be sent back to the streets, shelter, or car, they cross the threshold into a home of their own
Through our partnership with the VA, we help identify Veterans in need and essentially deliver your donation directly to the landlord to cover the deposit and first month’s rent.
This means every single dollar we deploy has a 100% success rate in helping a homeless Veteran get housed in a successful, long-term VA housing program that has a 91% success rate of keeping them housed.
We get no government funding. All of our funding comes from other Americans like you who just care about unhoused Veterans as much as we do AND want to do something to help them.
We’ve assembled a network of national collaborators comprised of Veterans groups, corporations, foundations, service groups, celebrities and (most importantly) Americans just like you.
ana.
“Rick” was living in a home with his mother for 16 years and had assistance from the South Bend Housing Authority. He came to work with the JW CBOC/Mishawaka after his mom passed away and was cut from the program at the SBHA due to incomplete recertification paperwork. He didn’t turn in this paperwork because he was in and out of the hospital at the time due to a medication allergy. This allergy caused memory issues and other complications. Rick was really not doing well.
Upon connecting with the VA, we learned he was residing in a home that was covered in mold. It was the worst case Ms. Six had ever seen in her life. The mold resulted from a burst water heater in the basement
and was never properly cleaned up. The previous landlord was awful, to say the least.
This Veteran also suffers from a severe heart condition and is at risk of a heart attack at any moment (Ms. Six heard this directly from the cardiologist). Rick was unable to follow through with past medical appointments due to barriers such as no transportation, etc. He was really not doing well when coming to the VA Program. Over the last 3 months working with the VA, Rick is now moving into a safe and clean apartment. He is in the process of being scheduled for heart surgery and will get to recover in a clean home of his own.
We are so grateful to partner with National Exchange Clubs around the country to help our Veterans, their spouses, and their children move from the streets and into the safety of a warm home. Check out our partnership featured in this special edition of Exchange Today!
We use business and technology acumen and efficiency to create and execute non-profit programs with solid business plans, outcome metrics, and an accountability structure. We created 1Matters.org and the Veterans Matter National Homeless Veterans Housing Program to be something WE would want to donate to. Because we get the job done very quickly, and very efficiently, OUR DOCUMENTED ADMIN RATE IS 8%.
1Matters.org is a non-profit 501c3 based in Toledo, Ohio which creates and funds new local and regional programs which help those on the streets. Veterans Matter is our first national program. We hold the highest rating on transparency with Guidestar , and a Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity meeting all 20 Standards for Charity Accountability. We also hold a 100% rating on Charity Navigator.
Ten
… it’s hard to believe. Veterans Matter was born in February of 2012 with the mission to house as many Veterans as we can as fast as we can. Ten years later, that mission is still the same. With help from average Americans who care about our Heroes as much as we do, Veterans Matter has been able to help over 6,200 unhoused Veterans.
There are many reasons why Veterans end up on the streets and while there, hope is hard to come by. Veterans Matter aims to give them that hope, hope of returning to a home, hope to start rebuilding their lives and reuniting with family, hope of getting a job and to receive the help they need to return to peace and security.
“...now I have help and there are people in the world who do care about me.”
Craig, a Cincinnati Army Veteran, was living in a garage when he contacted us. From there, we helped him into a shelter, and eventually treatment with the VA and an inpatient PTSD program. He had been struggling with PTSD since his discharge in 1981.
After graduating from the PTSD program, his housing voucher became available. Ruth, Craig’s VA caseworker, said he was beyond grateful for the help. He reported that his PTSD cost him employment, relationships, and housing. From the comfort of his living room, Craig said, “If it wasn’t for the help from the VA and Veterans Matter, I would still continue to have problems, but now I have help and there are people in the world who do care about me.”
The mission is simple: bring the unhoused Veteran population down to zero. To do this, we have the potential to partner with Exchange Clubs from across our great nation to work with us in identifying the number of unhoused Veterans in their state, as well as planning and collaborating with other Exchange Clubs to help our Heroes (and their significant others and especially their children) find safe, permanent housing.
Nothing speaks to the ideals of Americanism more than helping our Veterans and their families, preserving family units, and collectively
making our communities stronger and safer in the process. Exchange Clubs across the United States are joining together to help house our unhoused Heroes. Through Project Zero, we can partner all the programs of Exchange with this important initiative. Let’s bring our Heroes home … for good!
In partnership with National Exchange Clubs across America to bring the unhoused Veteran population to ZERO!
Phil is a formerly unhoused Navy Veteran from South Carolina: “My family and I (including my 3 daughters) have been homeless since the beginning of Covid. Last couple of years we have been in and out of hotels. As expensive as hotels are it seemed what money we did get would be gone because of the hotels. Hard to find any place because of Covid going on. Knowing if we did, how would we get an apartment of our own, because of the cost of these hotels. At times thinking we were in this never-ending cycle and were never going to find a place. At times I felt it was too much and thought about giving up. Moving forward, your organization has meant the world to us. We are finally in our home; we are finally not homeless. We feel there is hope and we thank you all so much for that. This could have not happened without your help.”
25% of the Veterans Matter houses have children. Thousands of children are now able to sleep in their own bed, attend school, have clean clothes, and be proud of their new home. The youth of today need security. Having a home and family around them provides this element of love and warmth.
Homelessness is not conquered overnight. When you identify the number of unhoused Veterans in your city or state and commit to tackling the task of raising funds to bring that number down to ZERO. Clubs will see that it may take several projects over a period of time to accomplish a Veterans housed goal. Be patient. Plan accordingly, and celebrate each success. You will find a sense of accomplishment as we take this journey together.
STEP 1: Identify the number of unhoused Veterans in your state or city.
• Call Veterans Matter at (567) 698-7838 or email our team at shawn@veteransmatter.org and SDowling@veteransmatter.org and we will help you.
STEP 2: Plan an event to rally your community in support of our unhoused Heroes
• Click here to download a copy of our Project Zero presentation to share with your other members
• Click here to join our Project Zero Facebook group to share ideas with other Exchange Clubs
• Consider multiple projects over the course of a year
• Inform local media of your events to help spread the word
STEP 3: Celebrate your success in housing our nation’s Veterans
• Share your stories and ideas on our Project Zero Facebook group page and on your own social media accounts
• Email us at info@veteransmatter.org with any pictures and stories so we can celebrate your success on our own Veterans Matter Facebook page
• Share your success stories with local media
• Know that your club is doing its part to help us bring the unhoused Veteran population to ZERO!
As a formerly homeless alcoholic and addict, founder Ken Leslie lived on the streets. After becoming a professional comedian, in the late 80’s he started seeing more people on the streets. Having been there himself, when he learned 60% were children, he felt called to help.
In 1990 he got sober and turned his life around. He founded a successful executive search firm which over the next two decades allowed him to become a philanthropist and create and fund programs to help the homeless in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. His program continues today.
On February 6, 2012, during street outreach with the VA, Shawn Dowling, coordinator with the Ann Arbor Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program, told founder Ken Leslie that a deposit was all that was preventing two of his local chronically homeless veteran friends from getting into the ready HUD-VASH housing, with 33 more vouchers for veterans in the pipeline.
He asked what the veterans did when they did not have the deposits and she said some of the veterans had to go to the churches and VFW’s and beg for it.
That broke Ken’s heart so that night he created Veterans Matter to simply eliminate that last barrier and push these veterans over the threshold into
ready housing by covering that deposit paid straight to the landlord.
The next morning, he called a local foundation to find the $26,250 pilot funding to cover the deposits for those veterans. Seven days later, on Valentine’s Day, 5:36 p.m., the grant was approved, and three days later, the first waiting veteran family was housed out of a family shelter. 11 days from idea, to funding, to execution.
During the taping of a Veterans Matter public service announcement, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top asked Ken to expand the program to Houston, Texas – which Dusty would help get started. So, Ken provided the start-up funding to create an online cloud-based system to allow veterans in Houston or any funded area of operation to get housed. To date that Texas group has raised over $750,000 housed over 1,400 Texas veterans.
John Mellencamp did the same for Indiana. Mitch Albom, along with money raised by Katy Perry, Kid Rock, and First Nation Group made housing Michigan veterans possible, with continuing support. The Veterans Matter pilot program then grew and now houses veterans in half of the country. You can help house some of veterans in theother half.
