Arizona State Parks hire homeless veterans

[Executive45]

Good news out of Arizona. Arizona State Parks has begun a pilot program of hiring homeless veterans to assist in maintaining the areas around and in their state park system. Paid $12/hr and given a trailer to live in they can work up to 1500 hours per year. (9 months @ 40 hrs/wk.) Hopefully they will be able to get back on track during that time. Maybe other states will follow their lead. Time for us to give something back to those that protect us.....Dennis

Complete Story Here

[JohnnyT]

Folks reluctantly I am going to close this thread. As a citizen, a human , and a veteran the topic of this thread resonates as a good thing. Unfortunately many have attempted to set up a soap box to expand the discussion well beyond the scope of this thread topic and into discussions that are beyond the scope of this forum... That would include some dreadful trolling...

Topic closed

JohnnyT Moderator

[J-Rooster]

TucsonJim wrote:
Wow - Thanks for sharing!

X-2

[Daveinet]

Escargot wrote:
Why are any veterans homeless??

The answer is simple but complicated. When one comes back from battle, the re-adjustment to civilian life is very difficult. It's not a switch that can be just turned off. You can't just give someone a house and expect all to be well. Truthfully, this program sounds like it is one leg of what should be a much larger comprehensive program for re-adjustment to civilian life. Suicide has grown significantly amongst veterans. While the army has a very comprehensive program for suicide prevention, I believe the program is fairly new. That program, the Arizona program, these are all steps in the right direction. We have a long way to go, but at least there is some progress.

[Escargot]

Why are any veterans homeless??

[Executive45]

Mr.Mark wrote:

IDman wrote:
Sounds good but it makes me wonder: How will they find full-time meaningful jobs if they are working out in the State Parks 40 hours a week?

It seems to me if a Veteran applies for the job, that IS the job they want. And, that job may be very meaningful to them.

MM.

That still leaves 128 hrs/week..:W..Plus, they are also getting some "hands on" experience to put on their resume...IMHO, if I'm looking to hire someone, it just looks better if he's working than it does if he simply says he's homeless..:E....Dennis

[Mr_Mark1]

IDman wrote:
Sounds good but it makes me wonder: How will they find full-time meaningful jobs if they are working out in the State Parks 40 hours a week?

It seems to me if a Veteran applies for the job, that IS the job they want. And, that job may be very meaningful to them.

MM.

[IDman]

Sounds good but it makes me wonder: How will they find full-time meaningful jobs if they are working out in the State Parks 40 hours a week?

[Sully2]

Somebody give it an amen!!.... AMEN!

[amandasgramma]

Not a "great" idea......it's a FANTASTIC idea!!!

[Mr_Mark1]

I agree, great program!

[OhhWell]

I believe he mentioned that they also give the vets a trailer to live in. $12 and a free place to live sure would go a long way after being homeless and all. Lots of people learn to live on less than $12 an hour.

[OhhWell]

That's great. A job is a lot more help to a Vet than handouts. Self respect goes a long way. Hopefully the supervisors are given training on how to lead and such as unfortunately, a lot of vets that are homeless have issues due to what they went through over there.

[pa_traveler]

Good to hear that someone is helping homeless veterans,after all they did for our country.I hope other states follow this example.

[gbopp]

Fantastic idea!