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Let's Chat About Homelessness: Thank you for your service and the ongoing fight of veterans

I was in the Army a grand total of two years and seventeen weeks.  I had the luxury of having an older brother who was already in the Army on recruiting duty and told me the exact things to ask for because, he told me, the recruiter would not volunteer that information.  I got in.  I got out.

Training was intense, but aside from the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995, there was never any thought that I would be going anywhere further than Ft. Carson, Colorado. That morning for about an hour, we thought the world was coming to get us; that we were under attack and I was ready to go.  That was as close to combat as I ever got.

My father was in the Navy, two of my brothers and one of my sisters went into the Navy also.  My oldest brother and I chose the Army.  So did his son and daughter. Spouses, nieces, nephews, cousins...suffice it to say, I come from a big military family.

When people say, "Thank you for your service." it makes me ponder what that means.

Going by the Veterans Clinic on Arcadia in Decatur,  I came across a patch of land that I would like to turn into a garden.  Sadly, I also found a man living in a tent near there.  He is also a veteran and illness has sent him on a different path than me. How can we thank him for his service?  How about give him a garden?  Work with him and others on learning to garden and grow things?  How about we give him and others something therapeutic and educational?

So the work begins.  This week we are going to petition the city for the use of the land.  I have already have 198 households in the area signed up to give us their compostable food scraps to make the soil better.  We have to buy seeds and tools. If you would like to help, you can donate by clicking here.

This weekend we held the Side Hustle Sale and Swap at Waller's Coffee Shop.  We are doing another one on April 6th with this in mind.  Plant and seed sale and joined by a number of local artists to support this amazing cause and the dedication of this garden.

People keep asking me what I am doing and how it all "fits".  This is how it fits.

Today is my eighteenth day out on the street and I am learning a lot.


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