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By Renee Summers
Telegram Reporter 

No Veteran Left Behind Offers a Helping Hand to Local Veterans

 

March 24, 2022

There are 18 million American veterans in the United States, according to US Census data.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), for the 2018 fiscal year, 1.7 million veterans received treatment in a VA mental health specialty program. 2020 Census date reveals that 18 million Americans are veterans; why are so few receiving the help they may be needing? While the VA offers a wide range of medical and mental health services to veterans, the agency has been plagued with problems ranging from questionable financial practices, allegations of inadequate healthcare, too much red tape hindering its ability to help, and a backlog of applications for assistance. Since the 1930s, the U.S. has been involved in a growing list of military operations, including the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan. The VA is struggling to keep up as the need for veteran's care continues to mount.

Geoffrey Devereaux is a disabled veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1985 to 1987. When he needed help from the VA nearly ten years ago, he experienced the difficulty many veterans face when approaching the VA. "I found out during that process that there were hundreds of military veterans suffering the same issues. I was volunteering at the time at Latino Family Services in southwest Detroit and veterans were coming in. The director said, 'You should try to start a non-profit to assist military veterans.' So I did and the rest is history," he says.

In 2014, Devereaux founded No Veteran Left Behind, a non-profit agency which assists veterans with the issues they contend with including healthcare, mental health, homelessness, and unemployment. What he has found is that older, wartime veterans from WW II, Korea, and Vietnam are often unaware of the assistance that is available to them as they age and are in greater need of healthcare, assisted living, and home healthcare. "I want to make sure that while our senior military veterans are still here with us, they have access to whatever benefits are available to them," he says.

No Veteran Left Behind seeks to assist veterans who are vulnerable and lack resources. The organization works alongside the VA locations in Detroit and Ann Arbor and the numerous other agencies that work to assist the men and women who served in the armed forces and their families obtain the services and benefits due them. Actions taken on by No Veteran Left Behind include assisting with disability claims, accessing the VA's medical and mental healthcare system, seeking assistance for veterans from MDHHS, visiting food pantries, seeking help with utility bills, education and job skills training, and employment, to name a few. All work is done by volunteers, disabled veterans who are wanting to give back.

"Every day is a new challenge but it's rewarding when you can assist a military veteran and introduce them to a program they may not have known existed, or taking a senior to the VA for an appointment or taking them to buy groceries," says Devereaux.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates there are nearly 700 homeless veterans in Michigan. No Veteran Left Behind seeks to help.

Like other non-profit organizations, Devereaux says his has been hard hit by the arrival of the pandemic which put a halt to any type of fundraising. Donations and volunteers are always welcome.

If you are a veteran or know of a veteran in need, No Veteran Left Behind can be reached by calling or texting 313-595-1262 or send an email to [email protected]. The organization operates by appointment only and the staff does much of their work at the offices of the Dearborn Vet Center, located at 19855 Outer Drive.

Devereaux urges anyone who calls to please leave a message if no one answers as he is sincere in his mission to help veterans. "Leave a message. We'll sit down with them either at the VA or Dearborn Vet Center and assist them with whatever they need," he says. "We're just honored to be able to continue to serve and our motto is: We rescue those who have rescued us."

If you would like to donate or volunteer go to the organization's website atwww.veteranrescue.org.

 

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