Sen. Lisa Murkowski recently met with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commented that "by April, Alaska-based soldiers will make up about 10 percent of America's presence in Afghanistan."
Col. Morris Goins, commander of the 4-25th, commented that it is important that communities surrounding bases be aware of what is happening because "when soldiers deploy, life can get tough for the spouses and kids left behind." In his unit, 2,000 out of 3,500 soldiers are married and several hundred of the soldiers are women.
Many of the soldiers currently serving on active duty will make the armed services their career before retiring; others will not and will be discharged from the military after various lengths of service. Regardless of time served, both groups will join the ranks of veterans that we honor today.
Many veterans, including my husband and I, leave the armed forces and decide to remain in Alaska. As a result, Alaska has the highest percentage of veterans per capita in the United States, according to the Anchorage Regional VA office, and is one of the few states with a growing veteran population, currently estimated at 74,564.
Unfortunately, for some veterans the transition to civilian life is difficult. This includes both individual veterans and those with families. According to 2010 data, there were 450 individual veterans and 179 members of veterans' families homeless in Anchorage and the Mat-Su. This is likely an underestimation of homeless veterans' families due to the number of families that are "doubled up" with friends and relatives.
There were also approximately 285 very-low-income veterans' families living in public housing or using a housing choice voucher, and 313 veterans' families on wait lists for these housing alternatives. The 2009 American Community Survey gives an estimate of 3,053 veterans in Alaska living below the poverty line, therefore being at risk of homelessness.
The Veteran's Administration has recognized that these numbers of homeless veterans and families are unacceptable and has launched "VA Home Front," a program with a goal of ending veterans' homelessness in five years. Part of this effort is a new VA Supportive Services for Veterans' Families grant. Since many employees, volunteers, and people we serve at Catholic Social Services are veterans and CSS is committed to serving veterans, we applied for and recently won this grant.
This grant is innovative because it allows us to serve the veteran's family, not just the veteran. The grant will provide services in Anchorage and the Mat-Su area, supplying the missing piece in the current umbrella of VA services by addressing the needs of homeless veterans and their families.
CSS has a long history of working with veterans throughout our multiple programs. At Brother Francis Shelter, 19 percent of the clients are veterans. We anticipate seeing more young veterans in the months and years ahead from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. For more than 10 years, CSS has partnered with the VA to have a VA social worker work closely with shelter; the shelter has also been a work site for the VA Compensated Work Therapy program.
On this Veterans Day, please join us in thanking our veterans for their service. There is no better time to reach out to the men and women who have so courageously served our country. Encourage those that are in need of assistance to attain their goals of housing stability for themselves and their families, to seek the help that is available.
Susan Bomalaski is the executive director of Catholic Social Services in Anchorage.
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