Posts Tagged ‘Homeless Veterans’

It’s been just over a year since tears in the eyes of some participants at a Remembrance Day ceremony at Toronto’s Scott Mission alerted Ontario Command to the problem of homeless veterans. Since then more than 100 have been identified and dozens given a helping hand through Operation Leave the Streets Behind, a partnership of The Royal Canadian Legion’s Ontario Command, Veterans Affairs Canada, Good Shepherd Ministries and other Toronto-area hostels, shelters and agencies that help the homeless. “The program is voluntary,” Ontario Command President Ed Pigeau said at a Toronto press conference. “Those who want to leave the streets behind [...]

Veteran Luke Carmichael, 69, knows it takes special survival skills to live in a tent through winters on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Rain socks in for days at a time and from October through February, gale after gale pounds the coast; windblown moisture, mist and humidity are bound to make your sleeping bag feel damp even if the tent keeps the rain out. Once you’re wet, the cold chills to the bone and drying out by a campfire in winter is no picnic.