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Veterans get needed help

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: November 8, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - There are at least 4,500 homeless people in Pasco County on any given day.

At least one-third of the county's homeless are U.S. veterans, and more than half of them have family members who served in the military, according to Morson Livingston, a founder of St. Jude's Homeless Veterans Resource Center, based in Pasco.

On Wednesday, the organization is coordinating a formal flag ceremony and barbecue for veterans at the Rotary Concourse Pavilion in celebration of Veterans Day. The pavilion is off State Road 52 near the Suncoast Parkway and Safety Town, the mock village where the Pasco County Sheriff's Office teaches elementary school children how to stay safe.

"We'll have (inflatables) for the kids and barbers to cut their hair, mainly for the homeless," said Livingston, a former Army chaplain who was injured during a tour in Bosnia and helped to establish the resource center about a year ago.

"There also will be a formal flag ceremony, and we'll give away care packages with shaving lotion, toothbrushes and other toiletries," he said. "Some people have even agreed to bring them shoes and clothes."

There also will be portable showers and information booths where the homeless can learn what services are available to them. Although the event is on Veterans Day, people don't have to be veterans to attend.

Since the St. Jude's center was established about a year ago, it has helped count the number of homeless veterans in Pasco, and members have gone "into the bushes" to connect with them, Livingston said. The resource center is not affiliated with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The group hosted its first event for the homeless July 4.

"We feel that everyone deserves the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter," Livingston said in a news release. "These veterans put their lives in danger when they went to war for this great nation, and the least we can do is show them some gratitude and kindness for their - and their families' - sacrifices.

"We want to honor them and let them know that there is some hope and we do care for them and thank them for their services. After all, it is because of them that Veterans Day is actually being recognized."
VETERANS DAY CELEBRATION

WHAT: A formal flag ceremony and barbecue for the homeless

WHERE: Rotary Concourse Pavilion, 15323 State Road 52, Land O' Lakes

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday

CONTACT: Call Morson Livingston of St. Jude's Homeless Veterans Resource Center at (813) 951-2288 or e-mail him at stjudesveteranscenter @gmail.com.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 731-1239.

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