Our government asks that our soldiers give up an arm or a leg or their life,\u201d says \u201cCrazy Eddie\u201d Colosimo, \u201cbut then when they get out, it says, \u2018Thanks. Now go away and don\u2019t bother us anymore.\u2019 That makes me so mad!\u201d<\/p>\n
Colosimo\u2019s revulsion at the way America\u2019s vets are treated underscores a poignant Christmas tale that I watched play out in Florida a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Colosimo is president and chief executive officer for Bikers\/Americans For First Amendment Rights (BFFAR), which for the second year joined up with American Legion Post 361 to offer homeless vets in the Daytona Beach area a safe and warm Christmas.<\/p>\n
About 25 vets and a few spouses showed up on Dec. 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne vet had been living in a storage unit and a couple had been living in their cars,\u201d Colosimo told me, \u201cbut most of them came out of the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n
The volunteers checked the vets into a motel where they could get cleaned up, then took them to the BFFAR post in Holly Hill for haircuts and shaves. Then on Christmas eve, they got a big dinner: hams, turkeys and all the side dishes.<\/p>\n
Christmas day was spent at the post, hanging out and playing pool and talking. Alcohol was off limits. The homeless vets were given military backpacks filled with sleeping bags and survival gear, as well as about $100 in cash and gift cards. Then on Christmas night, members of the two groups joined the homeless vets for another banquet before sending them back to their motel for a second night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very emotional couple of days,\u201d says Colosimo, himself a vet and the father of a military family. \u201cOn the third day, we gave them breakfast, and then they went back out into the woods or wherever they had been staying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most homeless vets camp out in the woods, moving from place to place to hide from the police who are always looking to kick them out of their camps, according to Dennis St. Lawrence, chaplain for the American Legion Post.<\/p>\n
It seems heartbreaking to send our vets back out into the swamp, but Colosimo saw the upside. Twenty homeless vets came in to the Christmas celebration a year ago, and seven of them have since found jobs and housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to end homelessness one vet at a time,\u201d Don LePore, veteran affairs chairman for the American Legion Post, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s vets now know there are people they can trust and look to for help. And they\u2019ve been given cell phones so the volunteers can keep in touch with them. Finally, the two groups are working to find free housing for vets who are willing to accept it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese vets don\u2019t need a handout,\u201d Colosimo says. \u201cThey need a hand up.\u201d<\/p>\n