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Bay Pines VA hosts annual event for homeless veterans

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Published  April 5, 2025 3:05pm EDT
St. Petersburg
FOX 13 News

Helping homeless veterans in the Bay Area

FOX 13's Jordan Bowen introduces us to a veteran who said last year's event helped save his life.

The Brief

    • The Bay Pines VA hosted its annual event for homeless veterans on Saturday.
    • The outreach event supplies hundreds of vets with vital resources needed to find housing, work and healthcare.
    • According to the latest data nationwide, there are currently about 32,000 veterans experiencing homelessness.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - On Saturday, dozens of organizations came together to help homeless veterans get back on their feet. 

The Bay Pines VA hosted their annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans outreach event, supplying hundreds of vets with vital resources needed to find housing, work and healthcare.

The Bay Pines VA hosted an annual event for homeless veterans.

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According to the latest data nationwide, there are currently about 32,000 veterans experiencing homelessness. Rafael Riconeno was one of them.

"I was in San Diego just about two years ago and wound up living in my car for 523 days. I staggered here because I had a voucher in California, but there was no rentals so I came here and within about 10 days I got off the streets, finally," Riconeno said.

That was after Riconeno came to the Bay Pines VA annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans Outreach event. 

It's where more than 75 community vendors and organizations come together to help homeless veterans better their lives.

"It really does take a collective group. We cannot solve homelessness just us at VA. It really takes every single one of our community partners to band together. It's really a mission, right, to solve veteran homelessness," Bay Pines VA Homeless Program Coordinator Blossom Kapper said.

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Saturday, veterans had the opportunity to get help with everything from job support to housing resources to health services like dental work and hearing aids. They also have a special stand down court with a Pinellas County judge, where they can take care of any overdue fines or legal hurdles, and a DMV booth where they can obtain a driver's license.

"Each one of them sacrificed their life for our nation. As a nation, we have to respond with a lot more than that. Just love for them is actually action and action is how to provide them all the dignity and the support to have a decent life that they all deserve," Bay Pines VA Interim Director and CEO Amin Elamin said.

The Bay Pines VA hosted an annual event for homeless veterans.

The event comes at a time when many government departments are seeing cuts. It's something the Bay Pines VA has been keeping a close eye, but as of now they say it hasn't been a concern.

"The staff work in the VA system are exempted from any other of those cuts, so we have full services, clinical service, administrative service, all dedicated for our veterans, and that was not affected in any way," Elamin said.

Meanwhile, Riconeno encourages any homeless veterans in need to reach out and know help is available.

"Just get down here, and they'll start the paperwork process and then, in a way, they're saving lives every day, so just come on in, and they'll help you out," Riconeno said.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.

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