The estimated 8,000 homeless veterans in New Jersey will have an opportunity to receive a ‘hand up … not a hand out' during the North Jersey Stand Down on Saturday, Sept. 9 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

      The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMAVA) and North New Jersey Stand Down Committee, Inc., will co-host Stand Down 2006 at the Essex County College, West Market St. and Martin Luther King Blvd., Newark.

      Stand Down is designed to provide homeless veterans and their family members with access to healthcare, medical screening, counseling on veterans' benefits, substance abuse counseling, legal and employment services, social services, vocational rehabilitation services, religious counseling, a hot meal, a haircut, and winter clothing.  The goal of the program is to bring a wide range of resources together in one location so the veteran can access the various available services and be able to recognize that the community is concerned and committed to bring these services to them.

      “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 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics indicate that on any given day as many as 200,000 veterans are living on the streets or in shelters.   Approximately one-third of the homeless population in the United States served in the Armed Forces.