Thanks to all who walked in and/or donated to the
The Seventh Annual Faith Walk for Charity
held on Sunday, October 14, 2012.
Together we walked one mile and raised over $21,000 to help formerly homeless veterans transition to safe and healthy homes.
Many thanks to Alan Shawn Feinstein for his $10,000 matching donation!
Question: What do Jews, Muslims, all manner of Christians,
Hindus, Buddhist, and people of all faiths believe?
Answer: The words "Homeless" and "Veteran" should
never be used together.
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Since 2006 Faith Walk for Charity has drawn together several hundred Rhode Islanders from a wide variety of religious traditions to walk one mile together and/or make a financial contribution. The walk has been led by clergy from Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Muslim, Baptist, and Episcopal faiths, and over $110,000 has been raised. 100% of donations are given to the chosen beneficiary. Past beneficiaries include Crossroads-RI (2006), the RI Community Food Bank (2007), The RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2008), Amos House (2009), the RI Free Clinic (2010), and Camp Surefire (2011). This year the cause is the Veterans Transitional Supportive Program (VTSP), which has played the critical role of ensuring formerly homeless Veterans move into new homes that are fully furnished, including a specially treated bed-bug resistant mattress.
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The Veterans Transitional Supportive Program (VTSP) works to return homeless Veterans to mainstream community housing and to help Veterans achieve an optimal level of functioning mentally, physically, vocationally and socially, without the use of alcohol or illegal substances. The VTSP Program has been in existence in Rhode Island since 1994, and has achieved remarkable success. For fiscal year 2011, outcome data indicated that 85% of Veterans discharged from the program had obtained their own housing. That percentage far exceed the national average for similar programs.
All of the Veterans admitted to the program were once homeless, and many have substance abuse or mental health problems, in addition to a wide range of psychosocial problems such as financial, social, vocational, and legal concerns.
To learn more, visit www.va.gov/homeless.
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