Student Veterans Public Sleep Out 12/16

To address the alarming rate of veterans facing homelessness, the Student Veteran Society of Columbia College Chicago will be hosting a public sleep-out. The sleep-out will take place from noon on Monday December 16 and will last for 24 hours. The vets will be camped out at the Sculpture Garden on the northeast corner of 11th Ave and Wabash St.

All proceeds raised will be donated to the Eddie Beard Homeless Veterans' Housing Program, which serves as the Vet House for Inner Voice Chicago. A local nonprofit that provides temporary and permanent housing to homeless and and at-risk Veterans, as well as job training and job placement programs.

Close to 30% of all homeless people have served in the U.S. Armed Forces at some point in their life. We asked them to sacrifice so much for us and when they return home our heroes are reduced to living on the streets. Veterans Day just passed by, but the issues the veteran community is facing cannot be addressed in one day.

The Eddie Beard Vet House currently has 15 Veteran residents enrolled in its program, which is the max capacity currently available. It costs between $900-$1000 per month to feed, clothe and house each Veteran. In addition to these standard costs of living, the Vet House is in need of a new freezer, pots/pans and other kitchen utensils, as well as personal electronics for the Veterans themselves, as many of them are currently receiving computer skills classes in order to help them with their job searches.

Any amount donated to this event will be given directly to the Veterans currently residing at the Eddie Beard Vet House and will help contribute to paying for their costs of living as well as helping them buy the necessary tools in order to successfully complete the program and find full-time work again.

More information on Inner Voice and their Veterans initiatives can be found here. You can also follow frequent updates on their Facebook Page.