Photo: The American Legion

If you read our blog post "Homelessness Among Women Veterans and How You Can Help,” you met Jordan, a female veteran who faced homelessness along with her two young children.

The statistics are staggering. From the National Coalition on Homeless Veterans, a nonprofit organization partnered with The American Legion that provides various avenues for support for hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans each year:

• America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq (OEF/OIF), and the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America.
• About 1.4 million other veterans are considered at risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.
• Nearly half of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era. Two-thirds served our country for at least three years, and one-third were stationed in a war zone.

The American Legion provides many resources online to assist its members in locating help for homeless veterans they encounter. Some of the resources available at https://www.legion.org/homelessveterans:

• Contact information for the Homeless Veteran Taskforce that fills in the gaps where no assistance is available.
• “On-Call Handbook for Homeless Veterans and Service Providers”
• A state-by-state list of the Veterans Justice Outreach Program points of contact.
• A state-by-state list of the Homeless Veterans Taskforce chairpersons.

Please contact your local American Legion Family for resources to help homeless veterans if the need arises. Your compassion and assistance will truly change a life.