American Veteran Newspaper, Inc.

Food Assistance Program

Below are Food Assistance Program referral agencies. These agencies provide referral forms, to recipients, needed to participate.
Daily Bread  Food Bank 5850 N.W. 32nd Avenue Miami, FL 33142 Contact:Ms. Martha Ferran 305-633-9861				DEPT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS HOMELESS OUTREACH PROGRAM Miami VAMC Health Care For Homeless Veterans Outreach 1492 West Flagler Street Miami, FL 33135 (1) Ann M. Mahan, LCSW/CAP      Office: 305-541-5864 ext.135      Pager:  305-346-3046      Email:   ann.mahan2@med.va.gov (2) Ms. Gina Queen      Office: 305-541-5864 ext.135   view letter of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] NEW!
	view letter of support [ 1 ]
	view executive director
Florida Department of Children and Families Grove By the Bay Service Center 1440 JFK Causeway, Suite 100 Miami Beach, FL Contact: Mr. A Pena 305-993-1913				Pass It On Ministries 14617 N.W. 7th Avenue Miami, FL 33168 Contact: Mr. Castor 305-681-1594
Florida Department of Children and Families 710 Alton Road Miami, FL 33139 Contact: Mr. Taqueuchel 305-535-5429				Social Security Administration 1801 Alton Road, Suite 200 Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Mr. Peter W. Blalock 305-538-9962
Florida Department of Children and Families 945 Pennsylvania Avenue, 3rd Floor Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Mr. Curtis Chatman 305-535-5429    view letter of support				Switchboard of Miami 701 S.W. 27th Avenue, Suite 1000 Miami, FL 33135 Contact: Mr. Gonzales or Carlos 305-358-1640
					view letters of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Douglas Gardens Mental Health Center 7701 Lincoln Road Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Ms. E. Lanser or Mr. Alonso 305-531-5341				University of Miami 1400 N.W. 10th Avenue. Suite 1107 Miami, FL 33136 Contact: Ms. Martha Buissereth 305-234-6434
	view letter of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ]				view letter of support
Fresenius Medical Care Dade Dialysis Center 1601 N.W. 8th Avenue Miami, FL 33136 Contact: Mr. Robert Kirby, LSCWl 305-324-1727				Miami-Dade County Public Schools 800 77th Street Miami Beach, FL 33141 Contact: Ms. Veronica Jabbour 305-868-7727
	view letter of support				view letter of support
Help Inc. Courthouse Suare, Suite 245 1210 Washington Avenue Miami Beach, FL Contact: Ms. Deborah Magid, Esq 305-534-9400				Citrus Health Network, Inc. 4175 West 20th Avenue Hialeah, FL 33012 Contact: Mr. Oscar Vega, ACM 305-825-0300
	view letter of support
Jackson North Community Mental Health Center 15055 N.W. 27th Avenue Opa Locka, FL Contact: Mr. Carlos Guy 305-681-2095				Miami-Dade CAA 833 6th Street Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Ms. Madelyn ILlareias 305-604-3306
	view letter of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ]				view letter of support
	view Mr. Carlos Guy
League Against Aids 3050 Biscayne Blvd, Suite 509 Miami, FL 33137 Contact: Mr. Pena 305-576-1000				Neu Vita Point Inc. 390 N.E. 125th Street Suite #1 North Miami, FL 33161 Contact: Ms. Mary Bravens 305-899-1234    view letter of support
	view letter of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
City of Miami Beach Office of Community Services 555 17th Street Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Ms. Maria RuizPena 305-604-4663				American Veteran Newspaper, Inc * A Non-Profit Corporation Created to Serve the Veterans * A private enterprise not affilliated with the VA the City of Miami Beach, or any other governmental agency
	view letter of support [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Volunteers of America 1492 West Flagler Street Miami, FL 33135 Contact: Mr. LaVant 305-644-0335				Camillus House 726 N.E. 1st Avenue Miami, FL 33132 Contact: Mr. Peoples 305-374-1065
Miami Beach Community Health Center 710 Alton Road Miami Beach, FL, 33139 Contact: Mr. Yuzbeny Escobar, BA (Health Start Coordinator) 305-538-8835 Ext.1167    view letter of support				Remar USA 335 N.E. 61st Street Miami, FL 33137 Contact: Ms. Kaleen Cruz 305-543-5444
					view letter of support
Academy for Better Communities  Miami Beach, FL 33141 Contact: Ms. Noemi Marquez, BAHS Supported Living Coordinator				Hope In Miami Beach 1655 Washington Avenue Miami Beach, FL 33139 Contact: Ms. Mary Gerard 786-444-1447
	view letter of support

Food Assistance Program (FAP):

The USDA Food Pyramid

The new USDA Food Pyramid

Hunger

      Hunger and homelessness continued to rise in major American cities over the last year, according to our new survey 2003. As the overall economy remained weak, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 17 percent over the past year, and requests for emergency shelter assistance increased by an average of 13 percent in the 25 cities surveyed. This survey underscores the impact the economy has had on everyday Americans. The face of homelessness has changed and now reflects who we least suspect, “It is disheartening and disturbing to learn that so many of our fellow Americans are in desperate need of shelter, food, clothing and the other basic necessities of life-and that in nearly every major US city, the problem of hunger and homelessness is steadily growing.

      As need increased, 56 percent of the cities surveyed reported that people in need were turned away due to lack of resources. Over 14 percent of requests for emergency food assistance are estimated to have gone unmet. Just over half the cities surveyed indicated that emergency assistance facilities have had to decrease the number of bags of food provided and/or the number of times people can receive food. Of these cities, 48 percent have had to significantly limit food provided. We also find that 59 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families with children and their parents, and that 39 percent of the adults requesting such assistance were employed.

      These are not simply statistics; these are real people who are hungry and homeless in our cities.

Homelessness                             Take a survey on homelessness

      Twenty-three participating cities reported that lack of affordable housing was the leading cause of homelessness. Other causes most likely attributed to homelessness include mental illness or lack of needed services, low-paying jobs, substance abuse and the lack of needed services.

      There are the unmet needs for shelter in our cities. Eighty-four percent of the cities reported that emergency shelters have turned away homeless families due to lack of resources. Over 14 percent of requests for emergency food assistance are estimated to have gone unmet during the last year. For families, 15 percent of the requests for assistance were not met.

      Results indicate, as they have in the past years, that there is still a great deal to be done to address the serious issue of homelessness in America.

      People remained homeless for an average of five months. Sixty percent of the cities said that the length of time people are homeless increased during the past year. Single men comprised 41 percent of the homeless population, families with children 40 percent, single women 14 percent, and unaccompanied youth 5 percent.

      The U.S. Census Bureau, which calculated that a greater percentage of Miami Dade residents are living in poverty than any other U.S. city with a population over 250,000. We try to unwelcome the thought, but we believe this is the reason for the corruption in some of the food relief service programs. Poverty tends to breed things of this nature.

      November 1994, answering the call of President Clinton, Secretary Andrew Cumo (HUD), and in order to provide more concrete assistance to the veteran, low/moderate income, needy, working poor, and homeless communities, the AVN opened the doors to American Veteran Newspapers first Community Based Direct Service Organization, (CBO) , feeding, referral and service agency. A war is being conducted upon the very soil of the United States. It is the war against homelessness, against the poverty, futility and despair stalking the streets of America.

      Over 271,000 casualties already exist among the Veteran community alone. Homeless veterans in this country are not unlike soldiers in combat, living in the field, surviving by their wits with limited rations and enduring unfavorable living conditions. It is both dangerous and debilitating, and every day they must continue to do "battle". It is sad to realize that among the one million Americans who, tonight, will have no place to call home, more than one-third are military veterans. We see them every day. Begging for money on street corners and at traffic intersections. Aimlessly pushing overloaded shopping carts. Rummaging through garbage containers. Living in makeshift shelters along our highways, under bridges, in abandoned cars and deserted buildings.

      Many of these men, women and even their children, are disabled or have serious medical, mental health and substance abuse problems. A significant number of these people are homeless due to our changing economy. They have lost their unskilled jobs, been downsized, and are now unable to find work in the high tech marketplace. For many veterans the problems that have lead to homelessness have placed them in complete isolation from the mainstream of American society. It is hard to believe that men and women who once wore our nation's uniform with pride, who fought for the freedom our great nation and the world enjoys as recently as Operation Desert Storm, are now walking advertisements of failure and despair.

      The American Veteran Newspaper acknowledges the efforts which must be made by non-profit corporations, starting at local levels, to assuage the crisis of homelessness in our nation. Actively playing an essential role in "breaking the cycle of homelessness and hunger the AVN broadened its horizons to serve all of the needy, whether a veteran or not.

      Our Food Assistance Program seeks to develop a continuum of care, and to break the cycle of poverty, those in-need of emergency food and homelessness in our community by filling the gaps within the current system. A locality's continuum of care system encompasses the need for outreach and assessment, emergency assistance, transitional housing and services, where needed, and permanent housing or permanent supportive housing to help homeless persons become more self-sufficient.

      While not all homeless individuals and families in the community will need to access all four components of the continuum of care, unless all four components are coordinated within a community, none will be successful. Perhaps most importantly, the Food Assistance Program agency seeks to serve low/moderate income families to prevent their sinking into homelessness.

      The agency's seeks to provide a model and an ideal for grassroots, community based organizations. The agency’s philosophy dictates that poverty, hunger and homelessness is a tragedy that must be addressed at the local, community levels. The American Veteran Newspaper-Food Assistance Program is in parcel with the U.S Administration “New” 10 year planning process to end chronic Homelessness in our country. We directly interface with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, along with its 20 or so Federal Department agencies that intertwine with the ICH. We supply all private/public and federal agencies with information, demographics, and geographics from our program in an effort to assist the “NEW” ten year program. Across the country momentum is constellating to create the partnership, and collaborative effort between private, public and governmental, that will get the job done.

      The American Veteran Newspaper-Food Assistance Program agency will help any homeless or person in need help themselves out of the cycle of homelessness. The agency dose provide food, prepared and unprepared, clothing, 30-day Metro-Dade bus passes, shelter (single room occupancies), referral, to hundreds of very low/moderate income families, homeless in Dade County. We seek to provide the foundation of health, rest and self-esteem necessary for the homeless to reenter society and for the low income and border-line to remain self-sufficient.

      Additional goals include developing successful sports programs to get the children of the homeless off the streets, and programs to re-enroll homeless children into schools. Women, especially those ill or battered, children and the elderly are focused upon. Referrals for food are accepted from elementary schools, senior citizen groups, mental health clinics, hospitals, city governments, non-profit organizations the VA and others within our network. Boxes are packed containing 7 days of food, all nutritionally balanced, for those in need.

      A network of providers for goods and referrals including, but not limited to; VA-Homeless outreach, Dept. Children & Families, Fresenius Medical Care Dade Dialysis Center, Miami Douglas Gardens, Switchboard of Miami, AA, Volunteers Of America, Camillus House, Dade County Community Action Center, University of Miami, League Against Aids, Help-Inc, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, South Florida Workforce, Unlimited Senior's Solutions, Citrus Health Network, Social Security Administration, Bayview Center, and Daily Bread Food Bank was set up. Each agency is allowed to send 5 clients per day. We serve Tuesday through Friday.

      The Food Assistance Program is an extension of the American Veteran Newspaper itself. We are an agency that operates on the front line, distributing food to the hungry and needy.

      We coordinate with the community by networking and interfacing with agencies within a ten (10) to twenty (20) mile radius from the food distribution site(s). However 20 to 30% of our clients travel from as far as 40 miles to receive food.

   

       

Emergency Resources - Includes community resources, housing resources, food agencies, and emergency shelters. This is an indispensable list of resources that can be used for various occasions.

A Survey on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities - 2008

Click on the image above or here to download the full 85 page 2008 report.

Click here to download the full 72 page report from 2007.

Click here to download the full 133 page report from 2004.

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Household Food Security in the United States - 2004

Click on the image above or here to download the full 65 page report.

Clickhere to download the full 65 page report from 2004.

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Miami-Dade Transit

We give out food and bus passes on a regular basis. Last year the agency fed over 6,000 families, individuals and people in need. There is a very large gap with other agencies These agencies seem to direct their clients to us on an extreme emergency basis (daily), and are generally the elderly and or people who are waiting to receive their food stamp card, and the low-income families who are very poor and desperate.

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info@americanveterannewspaper.org