Mothers who Served - Homeless Veterans Fund

I contacted the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today and told them about some concering issues about the level of difficulty I am experiencing in obtaining housing assistance as a homeless Veteran.

Issues: Disconnected number of Veterans Charity that the VA said they awarded money to to help homeless Veterans.

Mid Atlantic Region which receives awarded money from the VA to help homeless Veterans telling homeless Veterans who call them for help that they are not considered homeless unless they sleep and live in their car or outside and once a Veteran stays in a hotel room for the night, they are not considered homeless and don't qualify as a homeless Veteran. It was clarified that since I didn't sleep outside the night before I talked to them or in my car, I wasn't eligible for funds to secure housing for my child and I..

From the VA Homeless Programs Office Monthly Newsletter September 2024, VA Awards Over $800 Million in Grants to Help Homeless Veterans. It states, "VA has awarded over $800 million in grants to help homeless and at-risk Veterans and their families with rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and case management through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families"

Then it gives us links to follow for more info.

The links take us to the Department of Veterans Affairs For Homeless Veterans which relays the 800 million awarded on August 16, 2024 goes to any Veteran about to become homeless or is experiencing homelessness. Then there is another link that brings us to download a list of Veteran's Charities that recieved the awarded money in PDF where you look for your state, then it shows the names of the charities. One number to one charity was disconnected and another disqualifies Veterans if they didn't sleep in the street or their car. (Say so once you call them, approximately 45 minute interview with them over the phone giving out personal information..) The other Charities were not located in my region
in the State of Virgina, they are close to Alexandria VA or Virginia Beach.

There is no out reach or follow up to see if we are ok after being told we have to sleep in our vehicle the previous night or had to sleep outside. So if you were blessed to recieve enough money from begging others for help to get a hitel room fir the night, or friend lets you stay over a few nights, you would have to call the National Homeless Veterans Hotline again and start all over again, but again, if you didn't sleep the night before outside, they say they can't help.

This is fraud.

This is demeaning.

This is unjust.

While at the same time the same Newsletter reiterates how suicide and homelessness are closely tied together and homeless Veterans are reading this statement while not getting help, wandering around a maze of red tape maybe never thinking about suicide before yet the newsletter itself suggests homelessness is tied together with Suicide for Veterans and how they must help stop it. So my reveal here sheds light on why some may because the funds aren't being distributed as they should be and it borders on gas lighting desperate Veterans who are made to search and navigate alone. And no I am not thinking about doing it, but their presentation in every service for Veterans always, always, brings it up. Ask youself why none of the recordings say, anything about caring about them or gratitude towards them or loving them, they just simply state it bluntly. That is cruel and the power of suggestion needs to be disempowered now. And it starts today.

(The screen I type on on this website Fundly, is very small and it is extremely difficult to navigate it to edit and make sure the paragraphs are good. If this reads choppy, I tried my best. On my end there is no scroll up or down option.)

I filed my notice of intent to homeschool my child on September 3rd, the day after Labor Day. with my son's school and with the County Superintendent. Public School in our area started August 13th. To account for snow days! We started homeschooling the next day. Hopefully I can post a few of the projects he did as I took pictures of the process to present to others who homeschool elementary aged children.

My family was evicted from our house on the morning of Monday September 9, 2024. We could only fit a few belongings in our car, including our pets. 2 cats and a blue parakeet. Our furniture and the rest of our belongings were piled up on the sidewalk. I had no money and I was too sick to move anything prior to the
eviction, so I held up a sign by the side of the road asking for help and a few people drove by and generously donated money to us which helped me secure a 7 x 12 storage unit and get a hotel room for us for that night. That storage unit required a 50.00 deposit at a charge of 75.00 per month!. Thankfully, the hotel we stayed at gives a Military Veteran's Discount of
30%. I am so grateful for that!

Unfortunately though, some people stole some of our belongings from that pile made by the Housing Authority who seized them, along with the Sheriff's Department who supervised them doing so, from our house and who put them
outside where we had no resources to store any of our furniture and other belongings prior to our physical eviction.

We were living in income based housing
managed by WRHA and also recieved utility assistance from the Federal Government Housing Assistance Program. Last October I
couldn't work my Cleaning business due to
health issues. I will be 56 soon but my body just can't take much more after decades of work along with dealing with panic disorder which I have had since I was in my early 20's. I am currently about 9 months into filing for
disability and Widows Benefits and I filed for
Service Connected Disability last summer.
It takes time for the Administration at Social Security to investigate a US Citizen's medical history which we open up to them in trust. Although I wasn't deployed to the Persian Gulf, I served at a Helicopter Training Squadron in the
Administration Department during that time of
war, 1990, and have the same symptoms as
those Veterans who were in the Persian Gulf
called Persian Gulf War Syndrome. These
symptoms are, but not limited to, unexplained fatigue, severe all over body pain,, headaches and a lowered immune system where common colds and viruses feel extreme and linger longer than for a healthier person. That just summarizes one of my health issues but I also have back and shoulder pain which I have recently recieved steroid shots and steroid pills for, physical therapy and chiropractic care.

In going over my eviction, an unidentified entity, known as Freedom Lane was named as the plaintiff for the eviction which they based it on breech of contract. My dwelling lease was not
signed with them though. I signed it with Freedom Lane Limited Liability Corporation.
The breech of contract was concerning the section of the dwelling lease that stated residents couldn't put up any signs, symbols, flags - religious or political signs, on our house
without Freedom Lane Limited Liability
Corporation's written approval or they reserved
the right to remove them themselves and I did
With hanging them from the inside of one of my front living room windows. When I was asked by the Housing Authority, WRHA, to take
them down, I refused. They attempted to get
me to violate our 1st Amendment Right to free
speech/freedom of expression by my own
hand instead of by their hand. According to the
dwelling lease, it explicitly states they can take
them down themselves but they never did. Not
once did Freedom Lane Limited Liability
Corporation, who I have the dwelling lease with,
ask me to take them down, it was WRHA who sent me intimidating letters on their letterhead to take them down. Both WRHA and Freedom Lane Limited Liability Corporation were not on the eviction as the plantiff, it was written as
Freedom Lane, I think so they would avoid responsibility to the public and to Veterans
across our Nation to uphold the US. Constitution due to being a fight to keep it. I lost the eviction against me in Civil Court, then I appealed it in Circuit Court and lost. The judge verbally ordered me out in 30 days. I stayed home and we conducted our life as a family. A week or so later after the 30 days, I received a letter in the mailI from the court/judge saying I was in contempt of court. In addition to not obeying, I didn't have the funds or health to move out even if I had obeyed.

When I went to court to answer to the charge
the judge spoke to me as if I was simply trash, yelling at me why wasn't I out of our house, in front of a full courtroom. These people were in court for their own cases to deal with, I was the first called. I was representing myself and had a panic attack and froze when he asked my why I wasn't saying anything. Not more than a minute later he ordered the deputies there to
take me away. I went to walk over to my youngest son who is just 9 to reassure him all would be ok. It was just the 2 of us. He was sitting on the first bench behind the plaintiff
and defendant's tables and they tackled me to
the floor, twisting and pulling on my arms when I was on the ground to force me up. II told them to stop and let me get up on my own because I was in medical treatment for my shoulders and back. I actually had an appointment scheduled later in the day for it! They let go but one baliff was mean towards me when I told him to go easy on me, he snarled back, what did you say? And I said it again. He glared at me and I was led away. I have pictures of bruises all over my upper arms, breast and stomach from their rough handling. Later I documented the assault at the VA Clinic and ER at the Hospital in town. I was in much pain from it. As I was hauled off in court I was brought to a side room and put in a tiny jail cell with a toilet in it. I was searched in the cell. Later I was brought out to the court room again, it was almost empty and the judge started in again speaking in a loud and aggressive tone and using word choices that would offer no one any dignity in court, and I simply responded back in a loud firm voice, no panic attack this time, that if he speaks to me
like I am a human being, I would answer his
question as to why my child and I are still in our house, because it is our home. I told him God told me to stay there, to get healthy and to leave my signs up on the window. As I am saying this he shook his head overtly to intimidate me so I would lose focus but I pressed on, once again explained who I had the
dwelling lease with and how it doesn't match up with the plantiff, that they are not the same. In Civil Court, I explained the position of the 1st Amendment and how it pertained to the breech of contract in addition to telling the Circuit Court judge that I signing a new dwelling lease, (these are year long leases,) after it expired, which was in April of 2024, months after the eviction filed in Civil Court which was back in February of 2024. By law, if a new lease is signed, the eviction on the former lease is now
invalid They would have to start the process all over again and it would start in Civil Court, not in Circuit Court as an appeal. I have the letter showing the approval of the retroactive yearly lease with Freedom Lane Limited Liability Corporation on WRHA letterhead! While I didn't
have the documents on me at the time, I do
now, I clearly stated this in court to which the
plantiff, a woman who works for WRHA, told
the judge it wasn't true. I questioned the plantiff about this. She clearly lied. The judge turned to the clerk and said 10 days jail suspended, 2 weeks to get out and then got up roughly and stomped out of the courtroom. He didn't even look at me when he said it. I then had to retrieve my child from Social Services where he was being held while I was in the cell. They didn't allow him to sit on the bench and wait for me..

2 weeks went by and our family lived our life as normal as we could, me going to my doctor's appointments at the Veteran's Clinic CBOC just
down the street and my son going to school,
4th grade, at the public elementary school. A
few days past the 2 weeks, we recieved the
formal eviction papers which are written by the
Sheriff's Department to be out within 72, mine
was over the weekend so we had a few days
longer, but Monday September 9th, came and
that's what led me up to start this fundraiser.

During that 2 week time, I received a letter from the court telling me I had to pay them 115.00. No one signed it, no charge stated as to why, with an arrow pointing where I needed to sign, due on Sep. 20th. This was not ordered at my trial. It was never stated. After the eviction I went to the Administration Office at the Courthouse to ask about it and I was told it was court costs. I paid the 115.00 in cash and got a receipt back, showing I paid. When I got home I went over the receipt and it had a breakdown of the cost. I think it was 80.00, I don't have the receipt right with me as I write this, was a fine for contempt of court, the remainder of the cost was in administrative fees. This along with 145.00, the cost to appeal. This all is a huge injustice and justice needs to, and will, prevail!

Since the eviction, I've contacted the VA Veterans Family Service for the Commonwealth of VA and at the Federal Level,
Salem VA relaying our homelessness and have
yet to receive any hotel vouchers or assistance
from them. Hopefully it is soon.