The Dream Fullfilled......sort of

Last week, my dream finally came to fruition! Everything went off smoothly, without a hitch, just as I had always envisioned it, always imagined it! Thousands of people participated! The streets were blocked off and the procession was led down it's route by the LAPD! Mayor Villaraigoso and the City Councilmembers got millions in donations from the local businessess, and it all ended up at a place that could hold such a huge event; The LA Coliseum. It was everything I had dreamed of when I first came up with the idea for Operation Homeward Bound! Unfortunately, I'm not talking about the event I've been working so hard to make happen. I'm talking about the Los Angeles Lakers championship parade and celebration. Congratulations to the Lakers and their fans. Thank you to the politicians who were able to raise the money, and the local millionares and billionares who were able to deliver on said donations. All of you are the people I've been trying to contact for the past 3 years, including the Lakers themselves. I suppose if there is a positive, it's that I know such moves can be made, such money can be donated, and the politicians can make these kinds of things happen.

E-mail update

Just a quick heads up. OperationHB@roninapache.com is no longer a valid e-mail. Please direct your questions and comments to Pete@roninapache.com. Thanks,
Pete

Blaze of Glory

Here's my usual disclaimer: If you're new to this blog, please read my first post to get an understanding of what I'm trying to accomplish. The short version is that I'm trying to create a charity motorcycle run to fight homelesness in Los Angeles, with an emphasis on homeless vets. Success in LA will be branched out in other cities across the nation. That's the short version. Now for this week's post.
I've been real busy lately, but still trying to move forward. I saw Paul Rieckhoff, a First Lieutenant and Iraq War Vet, on the Stephen Colbert Report last night. I'm going to try and get in contact with his organization, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. http://iava.org/
Also, I just found out about a ride with a similar mission to my own, in Orange County, CA. It's the Blaze of Glory run. It's this coming weekend, kind of short notice, but I hope some of you will see it here and try to make it out there. I'm going to try and volunteer, maybe I can make some contacts. Find out more at http://www.blazeofgloryoc.com/
That's all for now,
Pete

Nowhere Man

He's a real Nowhere Man
Sitting in his Nowhere Land
Making all his Nowhere Plans
For Nobody...
The Beatles
Yes folks, this is how I'm starting to feel. I'm going nowhere, just making plans for nobody. The more contacts I make, the more empty responses I get, if I get any at all. I was very encouraged to find so many homeless and veterans organizations out there on the fronts, trying to fight this situation. With so many groups out there working on this, shouldn't we have some kind of a solution in hand? Or is the problem that there are too many groups, fighting too many individual battles in their own way? In any case, my mission is going nowhere. I haven't gotten any concrete response from any of the groups I've contacted, other than to point me to someone else. What I'm looking for is "yes, that sounds like a plan, let's get together and work on moving forward with it". I'm not trying to establish my own organization, just a new event to help fund existing organizations. Are they afraid that I'll be fighting with them for their publicity and dollars?
I can expect no help from politicians. Now that the White House has labeled veterans as potential threats to national security, I've lost any HOPE that Mr. Obama will return my e-mail. Maybe the backlash will cause him to CHANGE his mind. As I mentioned in a previous post, Congressmen don't want to hear from me if I'm not in their district. The standard response I get is this: Your zip code indicates that you are outside of the _th District of California. Regrettably, I am unable to reply to any email from constituents outside of the _th District of California.
Amazingly, I DID get a response from one politician, none other than Governor Schwarzenegger! He writes:
Thank you for writing about Californians facing homelessness. With a 10-percent unemployment rate and one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, California is at the epicenter of our nation's economic crisis. I saw the numbers illustrated in a very real way when I visited an encampment of homeless people along the banks of the American River in Sacramento. I listened to their stories and pledged to do what I could to help. I am working to craft a long-term solution to homelessness that will go beyond one night in a shelter or an occasional checkup. I signed and promoted the largest housing bond in the nation - Proposition 1C - and directed the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify a permanent, ongoing source of funding for affordable housing. Additionally, HCD committed to increasing the housing available to lower income individuals, and it expects to occupy an estimated 15,900 affordable rental units and supportive housing units during next 6 years; an additional 495 units will be dedicated to serving homeless youth. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 will provide much-needed assistance to this population. The Homelessness Prevention Fund - provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - will help keep individuals and families from becoming homeless and help those who are homeless to quickly find stable housing. California expects to receive $189 million in these funds. Services allowed under this program include rental assistance, housing relocation and stabilization services, credit counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance and case management. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. As Californians, we all play a vital role in helping those who are less fortunate. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Take that in whatever way you want. He didn't mention my plan at all, nor is there any indication that he read my blog, but at least it's a start, a response, and he's working on some kind of plan, even if it has nothing to do with my own. Awareness is also part of my mission, and I just have to keep pushing forward....

Between Something and Nothing...

So many things happening, and not happening. I guess it's all a process. Fortunately, I'm patient and persistent, but it's tough when you know you're trying to reach out and help people get a place to sleep. Just a couple of items before I get into what's happening this week. One, if you're new to this site, please read my first post, it has my mission statement and goals. That will help you to make more sense of what I've been doing here. Two, I don't know where the pic I posted came from, possibly from the National Coalition from the Homeless, but in any case, it seemed fitting. Anyway, on to the show. Here's what's up for this round of updates:

I spoke at length with Oliver Shokouh, the man who founded the Love Ride. He had a lot of good ideas and insight, it was really an eye opener to talk with him. I really appreciate him calling me back and answering a lot of questions. Thanks Oliver, I hope I can make it out to the Love Ride this year!! I also heard back from Michael Stoops, from the National Coalition from the Homeless. He pointed me towards the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, but so far, I've not been able to get in contact with anyone there. I also heard back from the Department of Defense, which was a pleasant surprise. They linked me up to a couple of Veteran organizations. They were quick to point out that they can't exactly endorse any particular group publicly, but it was nice of them even to respond, even if it was just the Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs ;)

I went about trying to contact local LA politicians as well. None of the Congressmen seem to want to talk to anyone outside of their District, so I went ahead and e-mailed all of the Los Angeles City Council members. So far, not a single one has responded with anything more but an automated e-mail, similar to the one I got from (newly re-elected) Mayor Villaraigosa. The exceptions to this is Councilwoman Jan Perry, who sent a personal e-mail saying she would look into it. Nothing new from her recently, but at least she took the time to read my blog. Thank you Ms. Perry! I also went ahead and e-mail The Governator, seeing how he's a Harley rider, but of course, no response as of yet.

On the national front, I contacted the National Veterans Foundation, and they did respond with an e-mail saying that they would look into it and get back to me asap. Phil Mangano, who is a key member of the US Council on Homelessness, also got an e-mail from me, but I haven't heard from them at all, I so wonder if the e-mail was just a public address and not a direct line. Just for the heck of it, I also sent an e-mail to President Obama, but I know I'll never hear back on that one.

I'm planning on going to an AMA Superbike race with my family this coming weekend in Fontana. I was thinking of maybe making some cheap "business cards" or something with this blog address and handing them out, but we'll see if I have time. It seems like an opportunity to get this idea out to a wider audience. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, here's an interesting article I found today

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_re_us/homeless_airports

March Forward

It's been a while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cranking away. In the past month or so I've gotten a lot of feedback. All of it has been positive, some a lot more proactive than others. I want to list people and places I've contacted. I hope this doesn't come across as a "shame on you for not getting back to me" list, I merely mean it as a way of keeping track of who I've looked into, for your benefit as well as mine. I'm simply trying to streamline for all parties involved.
To date, only a few people I have contacted have gotten back to me, hence the reason I've been hesitant to post (I don't want to put up negative news). I do want to say that sifting through the pebbles has brought some golden nuggets. First of all, huge thanks to the following people: Angelo Tota, a friend of the family and former teammate. He turned me on to http://www.patriotguard.org/ They have returned my e-mails, and are looking into any further participation. I haven't heard anything more from them, but at least they responded, and they do have some experience in this sort of thing, so I'm hopeful. Also huge thanks to my friend James Ozenne. I find his input on pretty much all things to be intellectual, inspirational and helpful. He turned me on to the President's New Era proposal, which lists Mr. Obama's plans for a budget, including veteran affairs and VA money. You can read more about this at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/ This has led me on to some other organizations, and in the process I sent an e-mail to the Department of Defense about this blog.
Next up I want to thank Jessica Leung and Debra Ballard for all their suggestions, information, inspiration and motivation. Digging through all of this stuff has been time consuming and at times frustrating, but their input has kept me going. I also want to thank Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Carpenter covers motorcycles and riding for the paper, and she has given me some good advice on how to proceed. Per her suggestion, I contacted Oliver Shokouh, the founder and chairman of the immensely popular and succesful Love Ride http://www.loveride.org/lr25/. He has gotten in touch with me as I was typing this latest post, so I'm looking forward to talking with him. His input so far has been extremely valuable!! Last but certainly not least, I want to give a huge thanks to my friend in the Air Force, Tech Sgt. John Peck, who has been sending me a ton of links and information. Not all of them are hits, but all of them have led to something useful and informative. His interest and participation is literally above and beyond the call of duty!! Of course I want to thank everyone who has responded in some way, it's all been helpful.
I'm not saying this is the "bad news", just the list of entities I've contacted that I've yet to hear back from, but hope will contact me soon. So far, nothing from the National Coalition for homeless veterans http://www.nchv.org/index.cfm
or the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
http://www.lahsa.org/default.asp
In my mind, their participation is critical, so I'm going to keep trying. I also contacted the Director of Operations at the Amer-I-Can Program http://www.amer-i-can.org/, which was created by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown. They are Los Angeles based, so I'm hoping they get in touch with me.
In addition, I've contacted the founder of Veterans and Families http://www.veteransandfamilies.org/home.html and am looking into the local chapter of Rolling Thunder http://www.rollingthunder1.com/. I watch the local KCALchannel 9 news on a regular basis, so I contacted them via their website. No pun intended, but stay tuned!
I am happy to report that I was able to get in touch with a contact for Los Angeles born actor and activist Edward James Olmos. Since I don't have a date set for an actual event, Mr. Olmos can't confirm or commit, but to even hear back from them was HUGE motivation to get this going.

That's all for now. The only other thing I want to mention is that I've gotten a lot of info and feedback regarding the military and veteran side of things, but finding info and interest in the non veteran homeless has been slow going. If anyone comes across more non veteran info and ideas, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone!!

Pete

OperationHB, week 2

Thanks to everyone who has gotten back to me. I appreciate your ideas and comments. Just a few thoughts so far. First, while I don't want this to be about me in any way, I just want to clear something up, based on some of the feedback I've been getting. I wasn't homeless because of any crime or substance addiction or anything like that. While those are very real problems, my situation was the result of two other major issues in the public eye; a lack of healthcare and the skyrocketing cost of an education in this country. I don't want to go on a soapbox about it. Those are two seperate but related issues. Conversations for another time. I mention this not as a way to "prove my innocence", but to remind people that being homeless is a problem that can strike anyone, and has.
Back to the matter at hand....
With regards to a riding route, I don't feel that there is a specific "homeless area" where we can go ride and see "the transient: in his natural habitat". Homelessness is everywhere. I saw a recent ordnance prohibiting the homeless sleeping on the beach, in Laguna Beach. That was a shock. When I worked down in Venice, I saw an old homeless guy everyday hanging out in front of the stores on Abbot Kinney. Across the street walked the kid who played Frodo in the Lord of the Rings movies (I know his name, I just didn't want to call him out by name). Wherever we ride in LA, we're going to be by someone without a home. I guess that's part of my point, the whole juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in LA.
Moving forward, I want to try and achieve something each week, whether it's recruting somebody new, or something a bit more prominent. Last week, I began this blog. In that time I have e-mailed it to a few people for feedback, but also have sent it to the LA Homeless Services Authority http://www.lahsa.org/
and the National Coalition for Homeless Vets.http://www.nchv.org/
So far, no response. I also e-mailed a guy via Linkedin who was my contact with the LA Kings when I did a jumbotron animation for them in the late 90s (ironically, the time I was homeless). Again, no response. I've had this blog up for a week, just kind of testing it out. Time to "go public"...