Miami Installs Free Public Bathrooms For Homeless People

SGT (Join to see)
I wish more places were like this. Just because one is homeless doesn't mean they're not a person anymore entitled to some dignity.
I was in California last week and staying at a hotel. As I was walking out one morning, I saw a man who appeared to be homeless leaving the lobby's public restroom and thanking the front desk staff for letting him use their facilities. I later remarked to my wife "that was nice of the hotel to let that homeless man use their bathroom. He's still a person after all."

I know that you don't know me, yet just know what I am telling you is the honest God's truth. Not only am I a veteran, I have been homeless and that inspired me to open a non-profit (47-5312462) Veteran Connection. The website for this foundation is http://www.vetconnectnow.org and I am furious and outraged, at the assumption that Wounded Warrior Project would exploit my peers in such a horrible manner. I'm not surprised and just like in all areas, there are some shady characters in the military and the government, period. There are currently a lot of programs who focus solely on Afghanistan and Iraq, post 911 wounded warriors. How many wounded warriors are there, I wonder if their foundations, sponsors, and coherts even checked? I know quite a few such organizations such as Homes for Heroes,  Wounded Warrior Project, and Building Homes for Heroes. This is quite an assortment of the same services, and the reason why I came to know about them is because I requested assistance from them and they turned me down, so far. I suffer from PTSD as a result of MST from the military. Truthfully, even though I'm not "quote on quote" a wounded warrior, I still tried to get help from them out of desperation.  I have tried to get help from many other veteran service organizations in Miami and Homestead Florida, where I live only to be turned down and discriminated against. I am 70% service compensated unemployability status, honorably discharged veteran who can't get any help either personally or for Veteran Connection to operate. The current systems have corruption and they have unfair gaps in their systems. Earlier this week, I attended a community subcommittee meeting on homelessness. In attendance was homeless trust and advocate program representatives and actually appeared unsatisfied and one of them was complaining because their budget was only 50 million dollars. Really, can you believe that one of these directors had the audacity to complain about having a budget of 50 million dollars? On the other hand, I haven't received not $1 donated to Veterans Connection. I am being transparent and I am being completely honest with you, like I told you, the board members, none of the staff has been paid not one penny. As a matter of fact, we have used all our money, we have exhausted all funds and I am trying to get a parcel of land donated to build tiny houses for homeless veterans with some materials and labor donated by the University of Miami. I am respectfully reaching out to you. I need help getting the word out about what I do at Veteran Connection to get positively exposed. Would you please help me to somehow get my story told? It's not about my programs, it's about the homeless veterans living on the streets in our nation. Please email me at [login to see] or you can call me at [login to see] . Thanks for listening and sorry this email is so long.
Valerie Allen
President
Veteran Connection