No Home For The Holidays

In the United States, one out of every three homeless people has served this country.

Aaron Reddin is the men's program director at the Union Rescue Mission in Little Rock. Reddin and staff workers advise, counsel and work with homeless people half of whom are U.S. veterans.

"If someone is determined to get back up from whatever life has thrown their way, they can do it here," says Reddin.

Every night, the Union Rescue Center shelters 65 to 70 men. After four free nights, each man has to pay six dollars, unless they are part of the drug and alcohol program and about one third of them are. Arkansas's Veterans Commission Commissioner Terry William, Sr. estimates that out of the 2,000 homeless veterans in the state, 70-percent of them battle addiction or mental illness. "They went serve their country; they come back and some of them said, 'I feel like you know I wasn't taken care of adequately.'"

Williams describes several factors affecting homelessness, including post traumatic stress syndrome and physical injuries. "Some of the things they see in war will cause them to be less productive than they were before they went because they'll have health problems," he explains and adds, "There's no organization in this state, that I know of, that can handle 3,000 veterans."

Reddin says the Union Rescue Mission plans to add space to shelter 300 more men, and says he's an example homeless veterans can get back on their feet with help.

For more information about the Union Rescue Mission, click on the link to the right.