This post is a little bit late and I apologize, but better late than never. Last Saturday I had a great time getting up early before coming over to the shop for Youth Earn-a-Bike. I got up early so I could make it over to The Michigan Veterans Foundation for their bike ride.
They were having a ride because there is a large number of veterans that are homeless. Politics aside, it is disturbing when any demographic of the population is disproportionally represented in homeless numbers. Military veterans happen to be one of those demographics.
I have some personal experience working with homeless as I worked at a shelter in Lansing in 2005 and 2006. This shelter happened to have a military veteran program there so I got to spend some time with those folks that lived there trying to transition into something better.
This problem isn’t something that is new unfortunately and any chronic issue like this often needs ongoing awareness campaigns (something I also understand from my work in the HIV community). So The Michigan Veterans Foundation was having a ride to raise awareness of the vets that are homeless in the Detroit area.
With that intro, lets back up a bit. One of the workers at the Foundation, Angie Blanco, found me because she was organizing this ride. The Hub of Detroit was able to donate parts to help get around 30 or so bikes fixed up for the veterans to go on the ride. For other parts that we weren’t able to donate, we were able to order for the Foundation at a discount.
Once those bike parts were in hand, vets at the Foundation fixed up the bikes for the ride. Getting closer to the ride I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t know if this was going to be a ride of only some vets on broken down bikes, or if there were going to be hundreds of folks there. What I did find was something pleasantly surprising.
I arrived last Saturday to a fine crowd of many different folks. Different community members from the city and suburbs, Vets both homeless and not were gathered together. City Council member Ken Cockrel Jr. came out with his son and even Miss Farmington was there. Many beautiful, well-polished bikes were in attendance. It was a beautiful morning.
Before the ride, Ms. Blanco and Foundation director Tyrone Chapman spoke to the crowd letting everyone know about the problem of vets being homeless and how the Foundation was helping. Just like my visit to the Foundation a few weeks prior, the staff was welcoming and determined.
When speaking with these folks you can tell that they love their jobs. Unfortunately not every social service agency is always like this. But when you find the right place you usually know immediately that these people truly are doing all they can to help other folks. Also, I must say that Mr. Chapman’s constant reminder that veterans are both men AND women was a welcome gesture of full inclusion.
The ride itself was great as well. The vets from the Foundation showed off their teamwork skills by keeping the ride moving, directing traffic and trouble shooting any problems. Bike rides aren’t easy events to pull off and the Michigan Veterans Foundation did a great job.
So next year I hope to see this ride get even bigger and I also hope I get a post up on the website before the ride so you can take a part.