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In January of 2019, the Department of Veteran Affairs recorded nearly 40,000 homeless veterans in a Point-in-time count. Vowed to serve those who served, the Veterans Community Project, or VCP, of Longmont helps veterans with a variety of services and their job just got a little easier with a $30,000 open donation from Longmont United Hospital Foundation, or LUHF.
VCP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides everything from walk-in services to homeless assistance to veterans. Services offered by VCP are designed to connect veterans with the community and vice versa, eliminating a dependency on the nonprofit.
In June, LUHF opened a grant opportunity to nonprofits in Colorado and western Kansas, offering funds to support health equity and advancement.
Paul Melroy, executive director for the VCP in Colorado, heard of the opportunity through VCP Board Member and long-time supporter Bonnie Finely. He applied and was surprised to receive such a generous gift, especially in funds that are unrestricted — meaning the funds can be used to support programs and the general operation of the organization, he said.
“It’s wonderful to get something like this because we have complete flexibility,” Melroy said.
“This is definitely a perfect fit because the Veterans Community Project serves the underserved, the homeless veterans, who may have trouble accessing health care. VCP will help any veteran despite whether they are honorably discharged or not. To access the veterans hospitals you have to be honorably discharged so some of the veterans who may have no access to health care. They fall through the cracks. This (the grant) will help those who would fall through the cracks,” Finley said.
VCP receives its funding through private funding — with individuals, companies or foundations supplying all VCP’s revenue.
“We’re mostly people expenses here, all our services are really hands-on. For us to do what we do, which is basically case management and navigation services, it’s people costs,” Melroy said.
The LUHF grant will support VCP’s staff salaries, fund the emergency financial assistance program, hygiene kits and food boxes, Melroy said.
“In a perfect world, we are getting a lot of the materials donated for that, but for things we can’t get donated we’ll purchase,” Melroy said.
One of the highlights of VCP’s week, last week, was the ability to house four people in a single week bringing the nonprofit’s total to 26 for the last year and a half.
“It was kinda a banner week for us,” Melroy said.
Part of the grant requires that recipients work with other agencies to better the community. Since January, VCP has partnered with other nonprofits to share over $15,000 in emergency relief funds for our community, Melroy said.
These funds have assisted people with rent, car payments or repairs and housing assistance. Melroy said keeping someone who is already housed in housing is a priority for VCP.
“It is so much more expensive for everybody if someone becomes unhoused,” he said adding the last statistic he heard set the price at $35,000 to re-house an individual.
Each week, VCP can help anywhere from 10 to 25 veterans with various services meeting each individual’s needs on a case-by-case basis.
“Given that we are an organization with a relatively small budget, gifts of this size have significant impact for us. Because we are privately funded, we have to scrap for every dollar and every dollar counts. Every dollar that we get in is a dollar I can devote to helping the clients that we help. It is greatly appreciated and just another example of how generous organizations in Northern Colorado have been to VCP. We’ve enjoyed some really strong support here and we love that. That sometimes makes our job a little bit easier,” Melroy said.
