Events at Albany Housing Coalition
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2021 Motorcycle Run Held for Homeless Veterans Awareness
Join us for this year's 15th Annual Homeless Veterans Run on Sunday July 18, 2021.
The event raises funds for the Albany Veterans Housing Coalition. $20 per person. Registration at 10:00am. Kickstands Up at 12:00pm. Starts and ends at 6437 Amsterdam Road, Schenectady, NY 12302. Food, music, and raffles following ride at the clubhouse.
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Sgt. Henry Johnson Veterans House Dedication
We re-dedicated our Veterans House on June 5th, 2020 to commemorate the life and accomplishments to Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Henry Johnson, who lived for a time in our neighborhood. The dedication took place at the Veterans House in conjunction with the City of Albany's annual Henry Johnson Day.
This transitional residence provdes a safe home for 28 Veterans. Begun in 1990 this was our first Veterans residence.
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Cadets for Vets Fundraiser
LaSalle Institue hosts the Cadets for Vet's Hockey Fundrasier every January.
Year to date, we have raised about 30k for the homeless veterans. Once we have housed the previously homeless veteran, the funds are then used to purchase furniture and household supplies from our local furniture establishments that we have partnered with.
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Cadets for Vets Fundraiser
LaSalle Institue hosts the Cadets for Vet's Hockey Fundrasier every January.
Year to date, we have raised about 30k for the homeless veterans. Once we have housed the previously homeless veteran, the funds are then used to purchase furniture and household supplies from our local furniture establishments that we have partnered with.
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Cadets for Vets Fundraiser
LaSalle Institue hosts the Cadets for Vet's Hockey Fundrasier every January.
Year to date, we have raised about 30k for the homeless veterans. Once we have housed the previously homeless veteran, the funds are then used to purchase furniture and household supplies from our local furniture establishments that we have partnered with.
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Cadets for Vets Fundraiser
LaSalle Institue hosts the Cadets for Vet's Hockey Fundrasier every January.
Year to date, we have raised about 30k for the homeless veterans. Once we have housed the previously homeless veteran, the funds are then used to purchase furniture and household supplies from our local furniture establishments that we have partnered with.
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Elks Christmas Presents 2020
Cohoes Elks sending a Holiday Message with a picture of a gift card for each Veteran in our care.
Let's End Veteran Homelessness
One of the most common questions we hear is, “How is it that Veterans end up homeless?”
For combat veterans especially, the battle traumas and moral conflicts can be debilitating. Returning home nothing is the same and the veteran likely sees daily life events as petty in comparison to military experience. The onset of post traumatic stress can bring on alienation of family, suicidal tendencies, job loss, addictive behaviors. Feelings of shame, lack of direction, and feeling that only a fellow veteran can understand leads to further alienation. Studies show it can take 2-5 years to crash and the result oftentimes includes loss of housing. Other veterans have experienced dramatic life events, some of which pre-date their military service. Once back home, the same spiral to homelessness can begin.
Executive Director Joe Sluszka reminds us of the importance of our mission, “they come to us homeless and they leave with earned benefits, needed healthcare, employment, affordable housing, connections to family, a peer support network, and a renewed sense of self-esteem."
Our mission is to create relationships that engender trust, insist on personal responsibility, and provide each veteran with the resources needed for a full integration back into the community.
We will continue our work until every veteran has truly come home and has a permanent affordable place to call home, adequate healthcare, education, a meaningful job, has re-connected to family, and is a proud citizen in his or her community. Then we can shut our doors and declare victory because veterans homelessness will be a thing of the past.
