Wear camo, make a difference: How to support veterans this Veterans Day

Welcome back here at Fox Chicago. We are once again supporting the Make Camo Your Cause campaign honor U.S. Vets this Veterans Day. And donating helps prevent and end homelessness among our veterans. That's our goal. Joining us now to talk more about the campaign is Larry Williams, Vice President of Programs at U.S. Vets. Good morning, Larry. Good morning. How are you today? We are lovely. Thank you for asking. What do you want people to keep in mind this Veterans Day beyond the parades and, of course, thanking our veterans for their service? You know, Veterans Day is 11-11, as we know it's coming up. And at U.S. Vets, every day is Veterans Day. And there are a few things, and I'll focus on one in particular, Veterans homelessness. It's such an issue, it's a problem, and it's solvable. U.S. Vets doesn't believe that veterans and homelessness should ever be in the same sentence. So this Veterans Day, what we're asking Americans to do, to show support for the mission of ending veterans' homelessness, to show veterans that we see them, we acknowledge your service. We thank you for your service. This Veterans Day, we're asking Americans across the nation, Chicago, we should be able to color social media with camouflage on Veterans Day. So we're asking all to wear camo, let that symbolize, let that communicate to veterans across the nation. Thank you, thank you for your service. And if you understand what camo does for military active members, you can see some of the delicious irony in it. We wear camo as military active service members in the military as an army vet. We wore camo to be incognito, to not be discovered, to be unseen, blend in with the terrain. Well, we want camo now to stick out. We want every American, wear your green, wear your camo. And then after you wear it, take pictures, take pictures and post it. Post pictures of you, your family members, your coworkers. Go to the baby stores and buy camo for your babies. I got grandchildren. We'll all be wearing camo on Veterans Day. And then after you take your photos, post it. And then post it with the hashtag HonorUSVets. Once again, hashtag HonorUSVets. And let the message ring out to all veterans that we appreciate you. We see you. And we stand with you. Larry, I wanna go back to something you said when you started out. You said you wanted to focus on veterans and homelessness. Why is this such a pervasive problem for our vets? I would imagine we're at a point now in our country where you come back, people are happy that you've served our country. People are happy to see you. People are happy to welcome you with open arms. What's happening there? You know, um... There's a lot of issues that sometimes veterans come home to. High cost of living. High cost of housing, not just living, but high cost of housing. On top of that, when you leave the military service, if you don't have employment lined up, you're now unemployed. So high cost of housing, unemployment, while in the military, maybe connections were severed, maybe supports weren't established. So when a military personnel gets finished with service, sometimes they lose social and family support connections. And then on top of that, I also want you to recognize that sometimes our veterans come home with physical and mental health challenges. Well, one of those is difficult to navigate. Can you imagine two in combination or more? So when you look at the challenges that veterans come home to, those are the situations and the concerns that sometimes land a veteran And their families homeless, doesn't start off that way. It's usually a combination of germane issues that sometimes a veteran and their families may find themselves at risk or in the crises of homelessness. Good point. Yeah, Larry, thank you so much for your time. Larry with U.S. Vets, and we are working to help them raise $250,000 this Veterans Day to mark America's 250th. Good luck. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. And Chicago, let's show out. Let's show up and show out on Veterans Day, please. Thank you. Thank you, Larry.