Fatherhood Channel
News and resources for dads and those who love them
News and resources for dads and those who love them
After decade in prison, former Air Force medic embraces help and hope for a better future.
Housing Military and Veterans News
As more veterans face homelessness, nonprofits are struggling to keep up.
Housing Military and Veterans News
Researchers found changes in the brains of fathers from prenatal to postpartum that did not emerge in childless men followed across the same time period.
Health Medicine News Relationships
Inspired by 9/11, a Florida teen became a Marine, fought in the war on terror, and came home to lead the fight to end veteran homelessness.
American Life Military and Veterans News NonprofitHow was your life inspired by 9/11? Where were you when hijacked airplanes brought down the World Trade Center, hit the Pentagon, and crashed in a Pennsylvania field?
If you were alive 20 years ago and old enough to have developed your memory, you know exactly where you were, who you were with, what you were doing, and what you felt on that horrifying Tuesday.
We knew immediately that thousands of innocents had been murdered. We learned shortly after about the more than 400 first responders who perished running towards the fire that day.
That day led to sacrifices by hundreds of thousands of America’s most courageous sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who fought in America’s 20-year war on terror. As American losses grew to the thousands — many, especially those most sensitive to matters of living and dying, may have felt they had no choice but to look away.
How many tears can one person shed?
The cost can be measured in thousands of lives lost, tens of thousands wounded, and many more forever scared by the trauma of war.
We each have our own unique reaction and responses to tragedy, sadness, loss and grief. For many, that turns to endless debates, arguments, and armchair quarterbacks; others become frozen into a nearly endless state of inaction. Very few find the strength, courage and resilience to become in action. Their commitment to serve inspired by 9/11 made them our heroes. They are warriors, first responders, and those who provide constant care to our fellow Americans who served through crisis, trauma and tragedy.
They are the few who protect and defend the many. We owe them a debt we can never fully repay.
Juan Flores is one of those few.
On 9/11, Flores was inspired to serve. He enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately upon finishing high school, volunteered for multiple combat deployments to the Middle East, and returned home to earn his degree and credentials as a Chiropractic physician. Dr. Flores gave up that lucrative career to instead direct a team of frontline responders waging war against veteran homelessness as Engagement Director for the Operation Sacred Trust Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program in the Greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale Metropolitan Area.
Dr. Flores continues his service today by making sure that those who may have once served alongside him don’t remain exposed to the risks our world poses to those in crisis. Dr. Flores shares more in this intimate conversation that offers a unique glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of a generation inspired by 9/11:
After decade in prison, former Air Force medic embraces help and hope for a better future.
Housing Military and Veterans News As more veterans face homelessness, nonprofits are struggling to keep up.
Housing Military and Veterans NewsHundreds of American military veterans are homeless in the greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale area with thousands more at imminent risk of homelessness and facing urgent challenges to housing stability, Purpose Built Families Foundation reported this week. Purpose Built Families is South Florida’s largest provider of supportive services for homeless and at-risk veteran families with an approach uniquely developed to prevent and reduce veteran suicide. Homeless veterans are considered to be at the highest risk for suicide.
Since October, the agency’s Operation Sacred Trust Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program has housed 70 homeless veteran families in Broward and Miami-Dade counties with 321 homeless and at-risk veterans currently receiving emergency services from the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit. Despite national reports that overall veteran homelessness has decreased, the agency is receiving greater numbers of requests for emergency assistance. For example, Purpose Built Families served 441 veterans and family members in October 2021. This past October, that number increased by 17 percent to 517 people requiring emergency help. In November, the year-to-year increase was more than 25 percent.
The agency’s national Board of Trustees met this week to review the prior fiscal year, evaluate performance measures, approve budgets, and align on strategic priorities. Most urgent: developing additional funding sources and partnerships to meet the increasing needs of homeless and at-risk veterans.
For the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, the agency’s Operation Sacred Trust Supportive Services for Veteran Families program assisted 1,019 low-income veteran families in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, many of whom had zero income when they reached the program. During that period, the agency distributed nearly $3 million in temporary financial assistance to help end and prevent homelessness for South Florida veteran families.
Joseph A., a former Marine Corps sergeant who’d been recognized with multiple meritorious service medals was sleeping in an abandoned building when he connected with Purpose Built’s Operation Sacred Trust engagement team over the summer. The 59-year-old Marine had lost work when the pandemic shut down local venues where he’d developed his career as a magician and was barely able to buy food with the $284.13 he received monthly from the VA for his 20 percent service connected disability. Shelter in a condemned building was the only option he could find. All alone in the world, the Massachusetts-native continued to sleep in that building even after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Within hours of connecting with Purpose Built Families Operation Sacred Trust engagement team, the decorated former Marine sergeant was moved into emergency housing at a local hotel, provided daily food and nutrition, assisted regularly by care managers and health care navigators, and soon was admitted to the program’s 45-bed transitional housing community in Broward County. Operation Sacred Trust’s housing and benefits team helped Joseph pursue housing and increased benefits. Within months, the former Marine had successfully applied for a HUD-VASH housing voucher and received a significant, long overdue increase in VA benefits for his service connected medical condition.
Last month, a landlord who prioritizes Operation Sacred Trust veterans notified the agency’s housing team of an opening. Within days, Joseph signed the lease for his new one bedroom apartment. With his housing voucher and now receiving nearly $2,000 monthly in VA benefits as a result of OST’s assistance, Joseph is continuing his cancer treatment and is hopeful about the future.
“It is never a wise question to ask ‘Why is this happening to me?’” the decorated, heroic Marine sergeant said. “Life is short, and we should focus on the good. It is important to continue to grow no matter where you find yourself in life,” Joseph stressed.
In addition to outreach and 24/7 engagement, resources provided by the South Florida Supportive Services for Veteran Families program include emergency housing assistance, housing search, landlord mitigation, case management, benefits assistance, health care navigation support, and legal aid from the agency’s two full-time attorneys. Nearly half of the agency’s 50 full-time staff are themselves former military veterans.
Paul Lawrence, an Army veteran and former Undersecretary for Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has mentored Operation Sacred Trust’s frontline veteran benefits team and serves on the foundation’s Board of Trustees. With Dr. Lawrence’s support, the agency’s benefits team has helped area veterans secure more than $2.7 million in additional annual VA benefits, with decisions often coming in record time. For many veterans who had previously waited years and even decades for benefit decisions, Purpose Built’s team helped expedite review and decisions typically within 45 to 90 days.
Robert Henthorn, Purpose Built’s Chairman and Treasurer, said the cost of housing homeless veterans in the Greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale area has increased exponentially. Just since October, Henthorn said the agency has spent more than $511,000 to provide emergency housing, transportation assistance, utility payments, rental assistance, and security deposits to end and prevent homelessness for the hardest hit local veteran families. Henthorn stressed that partnerships among veteran service organizations are critical to meeting increasing local needs.
Last week, Purple Heart Homes, a North Carolina veteran service organization, built a wheelchair ramp for a 102-year-old World War II veteran in Miami’s West Park community. Henthorn cited Purple Heart’s efforts as an example of the kind of support many veterans require beyond housing.
Dr. Alex Eisenberg
Dr. Alex Eisenberg, a Miami-area physician and vice president of the nonprofit’s Board of Trustees, said he’s continuously inspired by the courage and resilience of the veterans served by Operation Sacred Trust.
“These heroes who have given and sacrificed so much for all of us are among the bravest, most generous, resilient men and women you could ever meet,” Dr. Eisenberg said.
Dr. Eisenberg said many of the hardest hit military veterans have a difficult time reaching out.
“They’re trained to solve problems, overcome challenges, and depend on themselves. Our veterans need to know we’re going to find them when they need us most, that we’ll be there to answer their call 24/7/365, be there for them as they’ve been there for us, and ensure our community honors our sacred trust to all of them everyday.”
Henthorn said the agency counts on funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and active support from the local community.
“Veterans who have given their best have earned our best,” Henthorn said. “We urgently need landlords who can provide housing and resources that extend our ability to meet the needs of our hardest hit veterans for whom every day is a miracle,” he added.
Purpose Built Families Foundation has achieved multi-year CARF accreditation for homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing. The agency maintains Platinum transparency in Guidestar’s directory of nonprofits. Contributions are tax-deductible.
Researchers found changes in the brains of fathers from prenatal to postpartum that did not emerge in childless men followed across the same time period.
Health Medicine News RelationshipsDoes fatherhood reshape the brain of men in ways that motivate their parenting? Researchers set out to investigate this question in a recent study of first-time fathers.
To learn more about plasticity in new dads’ brains, research groups at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, associated with the BeMother project, recruited 40 men – 20 in Spain and 20 in California – and put each into an MRI scanner twice: first during their partner’s pregnancy, and again after their baby was six months old. The study also included a control group of 17 childless men.
Researchers found several significant changes in the brains of fathers from prenatal to postpartum that did not emerge in the childless men followed across the same period. In both the Spanish and Californian samples, fathers’ brain changes appeared in regions of the cortex that contribute to visual processing, attention and empathy toward the baby.
Continue reading at TheConversation.com.
Evidence based relationship skills training programs help men and women strengthen empathy through experiential learning that targets the neocortex. Excerpt of lesson about the Triune Brain from PAIRS courtesy Purpose Built Families Foundation.
NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes has welcomed the latest addition to his family with wife Brittany Matthews – a bouncing baby boy.
News SportsNFL superstar Patrick Mahomes has welcomed the latest addition to his family with wife Brittany Matthews – a bouncing baby boy.
The 27-year-old Kansas City Chiefs quarterback shared the first snap of his son, named Patrick Bronze’ Lavon Mahomes III on Instagram Monday evening, along with a necklace with a ‘Bronze’ nameplate.
The child – his second with Matthews following daughter Sterling Skye, born in February 2021 – is named after both Patrick and his father, Major League Baseball pitcher Pat Mahomes.
A joint Instagram post from Patrick and Brittany revealed he was born on Monday, weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz.
The happy couple first announced their second child back in late May, with the caption simply stating, ‘Round 2!’
Continue reading at TheDailyMail.com.
The latest season of Netflix’s animated comedy Big Mouth explores the mysterious world of father figures, and emerges with a revelation.
Culture News
Three weeks before her 21st birthday, Billie Eilish said she’s happier than ever as she confirms Jesse Rutherford is her new boyfriend.
American Life Culture Entertainment Music News
Being a great divorced dad is all about managing circumstances to create normalcy while showcasing thoughtfulness and love.
American Life News
Jeff Goldblum loves the challenge of fatherhood.
News
“It was definitely a learning experience for me,” Cohen says of adjusting to late nights and early mornings.
American Life News
Fatherhood changes Tua Tagovailoa’s Thanksgiving perspective: “I’m very thankful for my wife. I’m very thankful for our child that we have together.”
American Life News
“I love him so much, even when he is yelling in the middle of the night, it’s like I can’t even get upset. It’s like, all right buddy, come here,” Scotty McCreery says.
Music News
Kevin Costner is an actor, Oscar-winning director and musician, but when he’s at home with his family, he’s just Dad.
American Life News
“We kind of want to change the narrative of, like, not being there,” said Theo Pinson, the team’s newest dad with 8-month-old Alana. “We’re their heroes. We’re like their role models and stuff like that. They don’t know it how blessed they are, but you also want to give them the best life you possibly can.”
News
Billboard Magazine asked the burgeoning artist Future: Do you think you can have fame and a successful marriage? “I feel like I can have both. When the time’s right, it’ll happen. It ain’t nothing that I’m really chasing. But I do dream of it, and I […]
American Life Culture Music News
“[Being a father] gives me the ability to say, ‘I can affect so much,'” Nick Cannon said. Cannon proceeded to share his intention to use his influence wisely by standing firmly in who he is while letting his children know it’s OK to be a work in progress.
American Life Culture News
Twelve nonprofits have been awarded grants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to surge resources for homeless and at-risk Florida veterans.
Housing Military and Veterans News NonprofitAugust 17, 2022 – Twelve nonprofits have been awarded grants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to surge resources and services for homeless and at-risk Florida veterans. VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced the Department awarded a total of $418 million to fund 258 nonprofits nationwide. In Florida, home to 1.5 million of America’s veterans, VA’s SSVF grants will fund services for thousands of homeless and at-risk low income veterans over the coming year.
“Nobody should be homeless in the country they fought to defend — nobody,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said as he announced the awards this month. “These grant funds will help our partner organizations across the country provide at-risk Veterans with the resources they need to stay in their homes, where they belong, or find a new home.”
The 12 nonprofits awarded funding to provide SSVF services to Florida veterans are:
VA has provided SSVF grants to Florida nonprofits since 2011. SSVF grants support outreach, case management, emergency housing and supplies, transportation, childcare, and temporary financial assistance for housing related costs such as utility payments and deposits, security deposits, and limited rental payments. In addition to traditional SSVF funding, this year VA awarded more than $5 million in extraordinary grants to help Florida SSVF programs expand health care navigation and legal services.
Major General James “Hammer” Hartsell, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, advocated for expanded VA funding after meeting with Purpose Built Families Foundation’s Operation Sacred Trust SSVF team in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year.
“I have conversed with veterans at Operation Sacred Trust and witnessed PBFF’s teams’ consistent and comprehensive support to improve the quality of life for veterans by ensuring they receive the support they need to lead fulfilling and productive lives,” General Hartsell wrote after the visit. General Hartsell commended the program for its impact ending veteran homelessness and preventing suicide, which he said provides important support for Florida Governor’s Challenge Initiatives.
U.S. Army Veteran Kevin Williams directs Purpose Built Families Operation Sacred Trust Veteran benefits team. Williams said VA’s SSVF grants and implementation of the recently enacted PACT Act offers hope that many Florida veterans will have a better future.
There are around 19 million U.S. veterans, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs. General Hartsell said Florida is home to 1.5 million veterans and their families. Despite SSVF’s success ending homelessness for tens of thousands of veterans over the past decade, on any given night, thousands of veterans are still living on the streets, in their vehicles, and in shelters throughout the United States.
The director of Carrfour Supportive Housing, Florida’s largest nonprofit affordable housing developer and the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans 2022 Outstanding Partnership of the Year Award Recipient, said VA’s public-private partnerships are critical to getting veterans off the streets, out of shelters, and into housing they can afford and sustain.
“Helping Florida veterans enjoy the future they’ve earned requires actual boots on the ground in every community embracing veterans with the respect, honor, care, and compassion they’ve earned,” said Carrfour CEO Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg. “VA funding fuels those collaborations that offer the best chance of success,” she said.
President Biden is scheduled to sign the Pact Act Monday, authorizing an estimated $300 billion in new benefits for veteran families.
Military and Veterans News
President Joe Biden is scheduled to sign the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act – better known as the PACT Act – into law on Monday.
“The hard part hasn’t begun,” activist John Feal said last week as veterans celebrated victory in their long fight to expand benefits for burn pit victims sickened in Iraq and Afghanistan and fully compensate Vietnam veterans for their exposure to chemical defoliants.
The PACT Act could benefit millions of veterans. Legislators estimate the benefits to veterans and their families could reach $300 billion over the next decade.
Leo Shane reported for MilitaryTimes.com that “work to make sure those payouts and resources are properly funded and administered continues to this day.”
“Even well-written bills,” Shane wrote, “don’t always mean an easy transition to getting people the help they need.”
MilitaryTimes.com reported White House and Veterans Affairs officials promise they have been preparing for that task for months.
“Veterans who were exposed to toxic fumes while fighting for our country are American heroes, and they deserve world-class care and benefits for their selfless service,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement minutes after Feal spoke.
“Once the president signs this bill into law, we at VA will implement it quickly and effectively, delivering the care these veterans need and the benefits they deserve,” Secretary McDonough said.
“It was a day the country lived up to an obligation it had.”
~ John Stewart
Comedian activist John Stewart became a leading advocate for the legislation, speaking out daily to urge Senators to pass the bill: “It was a day the country lived up to an obligation it had,” Stewart said afterwards.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis highlighted the City’s commitment to ending Veteran homelessness in a meeting with homeless Veterans.
Housing Military and Veterans NewsFort Lauderdale, FL (June 1, 2022) – Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis spent Wednesday afternoon highlighting the commitment of Broward County’s largest city to ending Veteran homelessness in a meeting with homeless Veterans, formerly homeless Veterans, and frontline advocates serving the community’s most vulnerable Veteran families.
For the Veterans present, Mayor Trantalis’s words hit home.
“When you fall into a state of homelessness … you are enslaved,” Mayor Trantalis said as he recalled meeting doctors, professionals and “everyday folk” who had fallen into homelessness as a result of a health crisis, relationship crisis, or many other factors that also face millions of other Americans, but with no one to fall back on.
“What we do as a community, as leaders,” the mayor emphasized, “is try to help those who need assistance. It’s not a handout, but a hand up.”
Mayor Trantalis met with homeless and formerly homeless Veterans at Purpose Built Families Foundation’s (PBFF) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) headquarters in the heart of Broward County. He emphasized the commitment of the City’s entire elected Commission, the hiring of homeless assistance staff to coordinate services, and the creation of a community court that provides specialized assistance to help homeless residents overcome legal challenges.
PBFF is the largest service provider for homeless and at-risk Veterans in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Since 2011, the foundation’s Operation Sacred Trust collaboration has been grant funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. In 2021, Operation Sacred Trust also took over responsibility for operating a 45-bed VA-funded Grant Per Diem (GPD) transitional housing program for homeless Veterans in Broward County. In March, VA awarded the nonprofit foundation a $3.3 million GPD Capital Grant to strengthen the transitional housing program.
“Your operation is just a godsend to Fort Lauderdale,” Mayor Trantalis told Seth Eisenberg, CEO of Purpose Built Families Foundation and founder of the agency’s Operation Sacred Trust Veteran Service program, which also operates a Veteran Service Center in Miami’s Liberty City community.
During COVID-19, Purpose Built Families Foundation provided more than $6.1 million in financial assistance to help local Veteran families, including more than $2 million for rental assistance to area property owners and nearly as much to keep at-risk Veterans in safe, stable temporary housing throughout the pandemic.
Fort Lauderdale is the largest city in Broward County, Florida. Four years ago, the same year Trantalis was elected Mayor, nearby Miami-Dade County achieved ambitious national benchmarks to declare an end to chronic Veteran homelessness.
“As a compassionate country, we will not stand idly by while veterans call the streets their home,” former HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in August 2018, when he met with Eisenberg and other local Veteran advocates to congratulate them on their success in Miami-Dade County.
Eisenberg is optimistic Broward County will achieve the same result. “The decision to locate Operation Sacred Trust’s headquarters in downtown Fort Lauderdale represents our commitment to achieving the same result for Broward County,” Eisenberg said.
Juan Flores was a Broward County high school student when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on 9/11. He went on to enlist in the Marine Corps and served multiple combat missions in Iraq. For the past five years, Flores, who gave up his career as a chiropractic physician to work for Operation Sacred Trust, leads a team of Veterans who make sure every call for help is answered.
Flores shared his personal commitment in the meeting with Mayor Trantalis. “All I want to do is help my fellow Veterans,” Dr. Flores said. “From the moment I reached Operation Sacred Trust, I’ve never looked back,” he said.
During his 2018 visit, Dr. Carson said: “We need our veterans to flourish. We need their contributions, their skills, and their love of country. They’re vital to our national character, to our spirit, to the very soul of democracy itself. Their sacrifices remain the foundation of our liberties-the rock upon which our economy rests.”
Eisenberg said that call continues to inspire the agency’s nearly 50 full-time employees — many of whom are themselves Veterans — committed to both ending Veteran homelessness and preventing Veteran suicide. In 2020, Operation Sacred Trust was one of just 11 out of 300 VA SSVF programs nationwide recognized for its efforts preventing Veteran suicide.
Several of the Veterans who participated in Wednesday’s meeting with Mayor Trantalis said they showed up to thank Fort Lauderdale’s highest elected official personally for supporting the Operation Sacred Trust program.
One Veteran told the story of his recent eviction and a police officer who told him to call Operation Sacred Trust. “Within a month, I was in my own apartment again,” the Veteran said.
Others spoke of the agency’s compassionate approach.
“These people really care,” a formerly homeless Air Force Veteran told the mayor. The Veteran recalled confiding to Eisenberg six years ago during a period of homelessness how much he craved a Bloomin’ Onion. “An hour later, Seth [Eisenberg] showed up with bags of food from the local Outback Steakhouse. I’ll never forget his kindness. These people really do care, and it shows.”
“Everyone who falls into homelessness needs to know there’s a face and a hand that wants to help them,” the mayor responded.
“Thank God you’re here,” Mayor Trantalis said to the Operation Sacred Trust team.
Eisenberg said the far majority of Veterans who reach out for assistance from the agency’s Operation Sacred Trust team learn about the program online.
“More Veterans are pursuing the benefits and assistance they’ve earned,” Eisenberg said. “Every day, Veterans reach out via social media and our websites for help having the same opportunities for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness they served and sacrificed to give all Americans.”
Janely Ramos, Operation Sacred Trust’s Director of Permanent Housing, said the agency’s most critical need is for affordable rental apartments, homes and rooms in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The agency works directly with local landlords, can provide up to 24 months of rental assistance to help homeless Veterans get back on their feet, pursue earned income and benefits, and “is there to stand behind Veterans if they face tough times again.”
While Mayor Trantalis said Fort Lauderdale is investing in more affordable housing, those present agreed the housing shortage in South Florida is a crisis that’s made it more difficult and expensive to help homeless Veterans.
“Anyone who has an affordable apartment or room to rent, we urge you to call,” Eisenberg said, calling out the agency’s 855-778-3411 phone number. Last year, the foundation invested in a public advertising campaign that led many local property owners to provide rentals for Veterans served by Operation Sacred Trust, but Ramos said hundreds of local Veterans are still in need of affordable housing.
Veterans who are homeless or facing the imminent risk of homelessness in Broward or Miami-Dade counties can reach Operation Sacred Trust at 855-778-3411, email intake@411veterans.com, or apply online at operationsacredtrust.com. Veterans seeking help anyplace else in the country can locate a VA-funded Supportive Services for Veteran Families program in their community at veteranhousinghelp.com.
A 99-year-old World War II veteran was facing eviction in Broward County, Florida when he reached out to Purpose Built Families Foundation’s SSVF program, Operation Sacred Trust, last week.
Housing News Nonprofit
A generation of MLK inspired advocates are helping veterans like Eric Roberson get the veteran benefits they earned. Roberson, 29 years after completing his Navy service, feels like he can now live a normal life.
Health Military and Veterans News NonprofitFort Lauderdale, FL – A generation of MLK inspired advocates are helping veterans like Eric Roberson get the veteran benefits they earned. Twenty nine years after completing his Navy service, Roberson said he is breathing better and now feels like he can live a normal life.
For many, the inspiration to serve the most vulnerable among us is a direct result of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and legacy.
Dr. King’s influence goes beyond inspirational. As Roberson’s story and many more like it demonstrate, that inspiration to service is changing lives.
As a result of assistance from a Veterans Service Organization aptly named “Operation Sacred Trust,” Roberson was finally able to celebrate being awarded the veteran benefits he’d earned.
“A weight has been lifted. I feel better. I’m breathing differently. I’m not anxious. I’m at peace,” the Florida veteran said after learning his benefits request had been approved. “Now I can live a normal life.”
Mary Hudson is a longtime activist for seniors, the disabled and disadvantaged in Broward County, Florida. Today, she serves as an Operation Sacred Trust Health Care Navigator. Hudson summed up Dr. King’s legacy with one of his most memorable quotes: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Operation Sacred Trust Veteran Benefits Lead Kevin Williams spent 27 years in the Army before retiring and signing up to help homeless veterans.
“I try to exemplify daily the things Dr. King stood for,” said Williams. “Dr. King exemplified courage for his convictions, stood behind them, and he made sure that others understood his belief,” he said.
For decades, Roberson struggled to overcome challenges that continue to effect the lives of thousands of his fellow veterans who survive on the very edge of life. It wasn’t until Roberson reached Purpose Built Families Foundation’s OST Veterans Service Center in November that the Navy veteran would finally get the opportunity to pursue the potential of his life.
Wiliams worked directly with Roberson to complete and submit his benefits application, work he does with many of the more than 1,000 veterans who receive help from the Florida Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program each year.
That commitment to service came from seeds planted early in his life, Williams said.
“My mother would make my brother and me learn about this great leader [Martin Luther King, Jr.] at a very young age,” he said. “It wasn’t until years later that I fully came to understand the true significance of this man, the movement he represented, and what it meant to be a servant leader,” he added.
For Kevin Williams and his teammates advocating for homeless and at-risk veterans, Dr. King’s call to action inspires them to go above and beyond for every veteran who reaches the agency’s Miami-Dade or Broward County service centers in the heart of South Florida.
OST Engagement Director Juan Flores said the program is succeeding.
“We’ve been able to get a good amount of our veterans 100% service connected [benefits] that had not been able to get any type of service connection in the past,” Flores said. “You’re talking about going from no income to almost $3,000 a month,” he added.
“That can change anyone’s life for the rest of their lives,” Flores said.
Fellow veteran Angel Evans is Operation Sacred Trust’s Mentoring Lead and Intake Supervisor. As a result of the program’s benefits assistance to homeless and at-risk veterans, he said, “the possibilities are endless now.”
“I can help veterans secure financial income they otherwise wouldn’t have access to,” Evans said.
“Dr. King talked about not being silent in the face of things that matter,” said Purpose Built Families Foundation President/CEO Seth Eisenberg. “An America that keeps it sacred trust to those who have borne the battle and their loved ones matters,” Eisenberg said.
“The one in a hundred applicants who come to work at our Operation Sacred Trust program are the model of servant leadership Dr. King exemplified,” he said.
OST Recruiting and Training Director Bill Spinosa agreed.
“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve,” Spinosa quoted from Dr. King. “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t need to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”
Those hearts and souls are making a difference for many of America’s must vulnerable veterans, some of whom long felt forgotten. Like Roberson, they are finding they are finally able to enjoy the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” they sacrificed to secure for all Americans.
