Pete came up to me on the streets of San Francisco offering to give me a cover for my phone. He didn’t want anything for it. He just must have seen me twittering away and thought I could use one. Not sure where he got them, but I was kind of took back a little that a disabled homeless man was being so nice to a stranger.
Pete and I got into a conversion about homeless and life, but mostly about needs. He showed me the tires on his wheelchair where the rubber was pretty much gone.
Pete says he lost his leg to bone cancer. Pete says the cancer was a result of being exposed to Agent Orange during his two tours of Vietnam.
Pete says he was in housing, but the VA stopped his benefits because of some bureaucracy. I hear this often, and I was reminded of what Dale said to me about the VA when I interviewed him in 2010 now featured in this clip about veteran homelessnes.
There is good news. I was invited to attend a San Francisco Homes for Heroes meeting today, where in collaboration with a group of national and local services providers, 100 veterans will be housed in the next 100 days. You can find more information here
I hope and pray this type collaboration and support continue for not just veterans but for all our homeless neighbors.
