During several award ceremonies that are to be held across the country in the month July, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends on honoring the exemplary facilities, the employees and the civilian providers working to address Veteran homelessness. This is a new move, different from the usual looking for those who are not delivering, more like always looking for the bad and never appreciating the good.
In a statement that was released by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs David J. Shulkin, earlier this week, the strong VA community has made tremendous efforts in dealing with the Veteran homelessness. So far the success of the projects has been supported the hard work, innovation and dedication of thousands of VA employees and civilian partners. The Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Service for Homeless Veterans appreciated the top achievers in the following three categories:
The VA Employees
- Julie E. Irwin, Homeless Care line manager, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 2 (Bronx, N.Y.)
- Michael Wehrer, supervisor, Homeless Care Team, Erie VA Medical Center (Erie, Penn.)
- Kristen Weese, program manager, Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program, Western New York Health Care System (Buffalo, N.Y.)
The VA Organizations
- Domiciliary Service — VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, Calif.
- Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program, New Orleans
- Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program, Albany.
The Community Organizations
- John E. Ratka, executive director, Veterans Northeast Outreach Center, Haverhill, Mass.
- Family Endeavors, Fayetteville, N.C.
- Ivory Mathews, executive director, The Greenville Housing Authority, Greenville, N.C.
- Team AMVETS, Garden Grove, Calif.
- Project Community Connections, Inc., Atlanta
- Virginia Veteran and Family Support Program, Richmond, Va.
