16
Mar
Part Three, When Will The Nightmares End For Our Veteran Community? ( Health and Safety Concerns)
Everyone understands the basic rule of thumb for any business about maintaining a good public image and that it should always be at the forefront of one’s responsibility as an employee, manager, or business owner. However, when it comes to purposely ignoring health and safety concerns by covering them up or outright dismissing them as a part of the environment, and putting band-aids on as an attempt to fix them, which in the long run only brings even a worse public image than what was trying to be covered up in the first place.
Homeless veteran, Garrett Jester, was a resident of U.S.Vets, a Houston homeless facility, where he not only witnessed, and lived through the program there, but was asked to sit on a residence committee to help identify and bring forth problems while he was there, so they could be addressed.
This series of articles is exposing these issues with first-hand evidence to show where the services don’t always have the veteran in the best interest of the funding meant to help them in the first place. Let’s get started with the basic health and safety concerns that first meet these veterans as they enter into the U.S.Vets’ facility.
According to Mr. Jester, at any given time there are approximately 60-65 homeless veterans in a GDP (Grant-Per-Diem VA funded program) located and housed by the U.S.Vets Houston Veteran Homeless Shelter, at 4640 Main Street, Houston Texas. Keep in mind that U.S.Vets is the largest non-profit organization in the nation and should lead by example, but doesn’t. Mr. Jester has reported many times the unhealthy conditions of the facility and has had little to no action from officials on this matter, he has started this series of reports to address the truth, which no one, it seems, wants to adhere to nor fix any the problems he is bringing forth. Below you will see a series of photos showing the horrible conditions of the facility itself.
Mr. Jester has an audio conversation in which he tells a U.S.Vets’ staff member in charge of local operations, prior to a walkthrough inspection, “we have cockroaches everywhere, they are coming out of everyone’s drains.” The U.S.Vets’ staff member then acknowledges the unsanitary conditions by telling him that she is aware of it, and that there have been two exterminations so far, then changes the focus on a veteran that is no longer living there. Mr. Jester clearly stays on message and informs the staff member, that he tells everyone to keep watch for them even more as the weather is turning warmer, and suggests to the staff member that they really need to get regular spraying going, but as most of the reports from residents go, the staff member states; “As far as that goes, I’ll put it on the list.” She then follows that statement with a tone of uncertainty; when she says; “I’ll ask.” Sounding as if she already knows the answer she will get, so she “will” add it to the list. Then she admits to the level of the infestation, “We need to get sprayed at least once a week until we can get control over all the bugs.” In other words, the bugs are in control to such a level that Mr. Jester reports to her that the homeless veteran residents are having to use what little money they have to buy roach traps for their own living spaces. Really! The infestation is so bad that homeless veterans are having to use their own money to buy roach-killing products? The U.S.Vets staff member finishes this topic by strongly stating, “These roaches are horrible, just horrible.”
So to be clear here, veterans have to use their own money to buy products to maintain the safe health conditions at the shelter that is supposed to be providing a safe and healthy environment for them, while taxpayer donated monies still continue going to the U.S.Vets through the VA and other streams, for the needs of homeless veterans. Let that sink in.
Veteran Jester then continues by telling me that the roaches are so bad that they get into the beds and under the blankets. He said the kitchens even have them in the microwave and steamers. I asked him what else he could tell me about the kitchen and dining areas? He said, “Almost all the food is donated and expired. There are roaches in the pantry, quite often there is mold on the bread, the meat gets slippery like right before it goes bad, the cheese is hard, and one day we even found maggots in the salsa.”
The U.S.Vets’ website declares, “Every veteran deserves stability and a place to call home. U.S.Vets follows a housing first model…” I think I would want to see the details of that “Housing First Model”. Their website also claims, “It is our duty at U.S.Vets to deliver on our promise to always serve those who served.” It seems to me, that the veterans are the ones still serving.
A partner of another veteran non-profit organization, called Code Of Vets, has reported to www.ontinuethemission.net, that the 990 for U.S.Vets show only about 30% of all donations go towards the veterans. These numbers will be reflected in a future article.
Please understand, that Mr. Jester’s goal is not to bring down U.S.Vets, quite the contrary, and it is not about him, he truly just wants the service owed to his brother and sister veterans now and in the future, to be better and less harmful, without all the neglect, abuse, and cover-ups.
Take a good look at these photos. Live and dead cockroaches lying all over the floors, black mold bleeding through coats of paint, no shower curtains, and bad mildew build-up, feces and urine on the walls and in corners, water damage and mold where food is stored, elevators out of order, rusty metal wall lockers to store their clothes in, and I am sure there is more on “the list.” Where is the hope in this environment? Where is the dignity and self-worth bestowed in these facilities? Are our homeless feeling valued when housed in these facilities?
Till next time, “Charlie Mike” (Continue the Mission)
Hello my Brother and Sister Patriots and War-fighters, my name is Gregg C. Cummings, and I will be sharing with you my strong perspectives on our patriotism, our sovereignty, and our condition of readiness. I developed this website to do just that, to hear from the perspectives of veterans, and well-seasoned patriots on issues of the day, as well as life after active duty, but before we dive into those details, I need to tell you a little more about me.
I was born to understand the love for my country, not just because school said we should be proud, but because I grew up feeling “America” physically, and spiritually through nature, from living on campgrounds that my father managed. Experiencing the “Great American Experiment”, which surrounded every aspect of my life. My father, a WWII, Korean War and Vietnam Veteran, was definitely a personal hero to me as a child. I was camping at a very young age, making homemade bows, arrows, and spears, and running wild in the woods with my brothers before the age ten. We raised horses, hogs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, sheep and working hard alongside my brothers in it all.
I joined the boy scouts and became a star scout before it was over. Then because I stuttered as a kid, fighting all the time was a norm for me, so my dad signed me up at a boxing gym to learn how to fight so I would not fall short as often. Watching my very traditional American mother struggle through the years after their divorce gave me a great respect for women in general for the hardships they have faced throughout history and still face today.
Joining the military right out of high school I became a small arms specialist, a paratrooper, then became an engineer. During my military career I graduated from numerous combat-oriented trainings, and became a Ranger, Air Assault, Jump Master, and Rappel Master to name a few, and was an Instructor for Air Assault school, and Rappel Master School, as well as a Pre-Ranger Course, and served in real world theaters in Honduras on the Nicaraguan border, in the sands of Iraq and the Island of Haiti. Having duty stations in Ft Benning, GA, Stuttgart Germany, and Ft Bragg N.C. After the military, I finished my schooling with a degree in Sociology. I worked as a family counselor for a little while and a Police Officer for quite some time before jumping right into politics when the Tea Party Movement was triggered throughout the land.
I founded We The People Tea Party of Southern Iowa, co-founded the Iowa Grassroots Coalition, and also worked nationally with both Strong America Now and the Tea Party Patriots. More recently, I co-founded and am the Vice President of the US First Defense Coalition, which brings together for the first time many border sheriffs and border citizen rancher coalitions, Angel Moms, as well as voices from the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies, into this single communication strength, that gives America a message, a place to go to for real reports, news and statistics, away from the fake and twisted news from the main stream media and congress. You will find this organization under the USFDC tab above.
Now, I am consulting for some good companies and political advocacy organizations, such as, Patriot Mission out of Florida, who works with transitioning veterans who want to become entrepreneurs, and also with Vortex Blockchain Technologies out of Des Moines, Iowa, who are developing a one of a kind blockchain voting machines that are so needed and far overdue in our free Republic.
So, because I have experience and networks of these focused demographics of Grassroot Americans, Law Enforcement, EMS and Military Veterans, I saw a need to launch this website and in a couple of months, a YouTube channel that will work hand and hand together. The opportunity, need and timing is now, and it is essential for the American society to truly wake up, listen to the voices of those who have sacrificed, so We The People can feed the equal justice needed to achieve our individual pursuit of happiness, as Americans, not as a skin color, not as a class, not as a hyphen, not as a gender, and not divided by sectoring each other away from one another in the name of diversity, but instead to unite each other by melting into one Nation, one People, in the name of university; E Pluribus Unum (from the many, one). Langston Hughes, the famous poet said it best, when he said, “America, the land that never has been, yet, but yet, must be.”He wasn’t trying to dismantle the American dream by those words, but to embrace it by recognizing the importance of what that dream actually is, which later Martin Luther King Jr., gave us a speech to that vision as well.
Here is our Mission: To create an absolute, We The People network system, dedicated to Truth, Education, and Products with a seal of approval that everyone can trust.Not out to get rich, but to provide the resources available, so that Americans can prepare themselves before God, country, and family. To make available first-hand information and news straight from the sources themselves. To give resources and “how-to’s”, so the people can educate themselves about our duty to E Pluribus Unum, as citizens of this great Republic.
The Columns: I assessed and reached out to key individuals from each of those demographics mentioned above, so they can talk about vital issues within America today from their individual perspectives and expertise, which we all can learn from, and use to debate and grow our Republic back to a healthy standing and beyond.
My column will be called “Continue the Mission”, using the same title as this website. This blog is my messages to the world and to all of our great American Citizens, on many topics of discussion. You can expect my opinion, beliefs, and commitments to the oaths I gave on two separate occasions in my life. I will be straight forward, using a whole lot of candor on my positions and strong suggestions that the American people ought to behoove. For the civilian sector, that means your duty, and responsibility to do something. It is incumbent on you to stay engaged and keep our Republic alive and well. Make sure you check out all future articles, from all of our blogs, subscribe to them and reply to each, with your inputs, questions, and start being “E Pluribus Unum”. Strive to unite under our Star Spangled Banner to stay free; as an American Citizen, you must, “Charlie Mike” (Continue the Mission).
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