Florida A&M University’s Lawson Center was welcoming veterans on Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16. The event was the yearly Veterans’ Stand Down, which provides all kinds of services to improve the lives of those who served and then suffered hardship.
Purple Heart Veteran Washington Sanchez started the Tallahassee Veterans’ Stand Down event fourteen years ago. He notes there were a lot more unhoused and underserved vets in the area who needed help back then.
“When we started, there was probably around 400. But now, it’s around 100. Which is good.”
What’s not so good, says Sanchez, is that the vets who are still out there seem much less inclined to come in for help.
“It’s harder to identify some of these young people. They don’t believe that they deserve…THIS! It’s hard to help people who don’t want to help themselves.”
Still, the weekend’s Stand Down ended up offering more than 200 local vets a full buffet of free resources to help them get their lives in a better place.
