VA and community partners hold Thanksgiving donation event.
Volunteers from the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System coordinated with local Veteran Service Organizations to provide turkeys and hot meals for Veterans in need in the Charleston area.
The event was held at the North Charleston VA Outpatient Clinic where Veterans lined up in their cars or could walk onto the premises and were given the option for either a hot meal or care packages with a whole turkey and personal care items. Though open to all Veterans, this program was aimed specifically at homeless Veterans in the area. This event was coordinated with Project Street Outreach and the Tri-County Veterans Support Network, and was dedicated to the memory of Sgt. First Class Sam Caulder.
Caulder was a Veteran who struggled to reintegrate into civilian life, a struggle shared by many Veterans today after service. His family founded Project Street Outreach in memory of him and those who struggled like him to feel at home in the country and society they served.
Events like these are part of a greater national VA effort to collaborate with local communities to end Veteran homelessness. Some of these programs that are part of this effort are the Community Resource and Referral Center, Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans, Health Care for Homeless Veterans program, Health Care for Reentry Veterans program, and Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem program just to name a few. The VA uses these programs to follow through on their mandate to conduct coordinated outreach to proactively seek out Veterans in need of assistance, connect homeless and at-risk Veterans with housing solutions, health care, community employment services and other required supports, and to collaborate with federal, state, and local agencies to expand employment and affordable housing options for Veterans exiting homelessness.
The Ralph H. Johnson VA’s local homelessness program supports helping in-need Veterans with immediate food and shelter, transitional and permanent housing, job training, life skills development, education, support with justice system navigation and community re-entry from jail. The also assist with financial support to prevent further homelessness, treatment for addiction and depression, and health and dental care. A care coordinator can connect any Veteran in need of these resources and can be contacted at: 843-789-6804.