ONTARIO — Brooklynn Wharton looked toward her great grandfather when she was assigned a service project for her Ontario Middle School social studies class.
She found a cause worthy of her service: homeless war veterans, and she dubbed it Floyd’s Mission, in honor of her family’s patriarch.
Brooklynn, 10, has always been interested in history and reading the news, according to her father, Kevin Wharton. When she read a troubling statistic about the homeless population, she knew it was time to take action.
“I read an article about how one in four of the (national) homeless population are war veterans, and I thought it would be a good way to honor my (great) grandfather,” Brooklynn said. “I thought it would be cool to help them.”
Floyd Wharton, was a glider pilot who won a Purple Heart during World War Ii.
“We got some donations and money donations. It’s been going great,” she said.
The monetary donations are going towards purchasing items to give to the veterans through the HUD-VASH Organization at the Veteran’s Administration on the corner of Trimble Road and Marion Avenue.
HUD-VASH is a national program operating through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Ashley Trimble, Public Affairs Specialist for Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Center, said veterans living on the street may not seek help for homelessness as soon as others because the military trains them to adapt to fit their circumstances. Veterans also experience a higher rate of exposure to conflict and combat, which Trimble said may result in mental health and addiction issues.
“Untreated mental health and substance abuse issues, post-traumatic stress disorder and exposure to trauma are additional contributing factors for veteran homelessness,” Trimble said..
HUD housing vouchers combined with VA support services are striving to help homeless veterans and their families locate and live in permanent housing.
“Current needs for homeless veterans are donations such as toiletries and items that they cannot obtain from the local food pantries or with food stamps,” Trimble said of Floyd’s Mission donations. “Transportation is a barrier due to limited public bus access, particularly evening and weekends, so bus passes are also appreciated.
“Financial donations are always appreciated as well for various items including local grocery store vouchers; Wal-Mart gift cards; gas cards; Target or other clothing store gift cards.”
Brooklynn’s school project ran from April 13 through May 13 and had four collection locations. She plans to keep the project going by having drives every few months, but has a busy summer ahead taking courses at North Central State College.
“What she did is, I have a Jeep Wrangler,” Wharton said. “So I put the back seat out and she filled it up with donations and my wife and her drove it over it the VA. It was pretty cool.
“She’s the one who called them, it was a really good experience (for her). She’s a really hard worker. I’m just really proud of her. It seems like yesterday she was born and today she is coming up with projects. She just started talking to my parents about my grandfather and that’s what piqued her interest in doing that. She is very interested in things going on in the world. She is always reading about the homeless veteran crisis and filling my wife and me in on stuff. It’s really neat.”
To find out when Floyd’s Mission is having its next drive look at its Facebook page. Email Floyd’s Mission at floydsmission@yahoo.com.
