Homeless Veterans Analysis
Students at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School have started a new kind of public service. More than 50 young men from the all-boys school volunteer as pallbearers at funerals for homeless veterans, according to the Associated Press.
Homeless veterans often have lost contact with family members who cannot be located once they have died. So, if the Dignity Memorial Network's Homeless Veterans Program cannot contact the family of a homeless veteran 90 days after their death, then the program will provide them with a casket, according to Good Housekeeping. But, because the veterans don't have family present, there usually wouldn't be a formal ceremony where pallbearers carry the veterans to their graves. Now, students from the high school will help give the veterans a proper burial by volunteering as pallbearers. Funeral home director John Desmond told TODAY this service will only help the veterans program better provide veterans with the kind of funeral service that they deserve.
"The students' service is quite simply valuable to our firm because that is what we do — we serve our community by caring for and honoring the dead, regardless …show more content…
Because veteran homelessness isn't a small issue. There were an estimated 49, 933 homeless veterans in the U.S. in 2014, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which means about 8.6 percent of the country's homeless population are veterans. Many veterans become homeless because their service puts them at a higher risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can lead to other disorders, substance abuse, difficulty maintaining jobs, and then, as a result, a lower socioeconomic status, according to the NAEH. Media and government representatives across the country have been asking Congress to do more to provide soldiers returning from overseas tours and veterans better access to mental health care, and the large homeless veteran population has been one of their strongest talking
Homeless veterans often have lost contact with family members who cannot be located once they have died. So, if the Dignity Memorial Network's Homeless Veterans Program cannot contact the family of a homeless veteran 90 days after their death, then the program will provide them with a casket, according to Good Housekeeping. But, because the veterans don't have family present, there usually wouldn't be a formal ceremony where pallbearers carry the veterans to their graves. Now, students from the high school will help give the veterans a proper burial by volunteering as pallbearers. Funeral home director John Desmond told TODAY this service will only help the veterans program better provide veterans with the kind of funeral service that they deserve.
"The students' service is quite simply valuable to our firm because that is what we do — we serve our community by caring for and honoring the dead, regardless …show more content…
Because veteran homelessness isn't a small issue. There were an estimated 49, 933 homeless veterans in the U.S. in 2014, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which means about 8.6 percent of the country's homeless population are veterans. Many veterans become homeless because their service puts them at a higher risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can lead to other disorders, substance abuse, difficulty maintaining jobs, and then, as a result, a lower socioeconomic status, according to the NAEH. Media and government representatives across the country have been asking Congress to do more to provide soldiers returning from overseas tours and veterans better access to mental health care, and the large homeless veteran population has been one of their strongest talking