On Friday, September 23, at 8 a.m., the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMAVA) and Stand Down of South Jersey, Inc., will be co-hosting Stand Down 2005 at the National Guard Armory, Grove Street and Park Blvd., in Cherry Hill.

      DMAVA, along with many volunteers and civic organizations is holding the Stand Down to provide homeless veterans with access to healthcare, mental health screening, substance abuse counseling, social services availability, religious counseling, a hot meal, a haircut and winter clothing.  Stand Down's ultimate goal is to show disenfranchised veterans that someone still cares and to assist in bringing their homelessness to a close.

      This is the fifth year Stand Down has been held at the Cherry Hill Armory.  Prior to 2000, Stand Downs were held at Fort Dix and Naval Weapon Station Lakehurst.  Last year 140 homeless veterans and their families attended the Stand Down.

      According to official U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, on any given day as many as 200,000 veterans are living on the streets or in shelters and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.  At this time, the number of homeless male and female Vietnam era veterans is greater that the number of service persons who dies during that war. Approximately one-third of the homeless population in the United States served in the Armed Forces.

      “Stand Down” derives its name from the military term referring to the temporary removal of exhausted combat troops from the battlefield to a safe place, behind the lines, for rest and recovery.  Stand Down's are grass roots, community-based intervention programs to help homeless veterans survive life on the streets.  The program's philosophy is to give homeless veterans a ‘hand up … not a hand out'.

      The organizations supporting Stand Down 2005 are DMAVA, Stand Down of South Jersey, Inc., the Veterans Administration, The Retired Officers Association, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion, Marine Corps League, American Ex-Prisoners of War, Veterans of Foreign War, Gold Star Wives, Jewish War Veterans, Burlington County Veterans Services Office, Camden County Veterans Services Office, Camden County Board of Social Services, Community Services of Camden County, U.S. Department of Labor, and the Fort Dix post chaplains.