An Indiana Senate lawmaker wants the Hoosier Lottery to create a new scratch-off game to benefit homeless veterans.
Sen. Ron Alting's (R-Lafayette) bill would allow the Hoosier Lottery to create a new scratch-off game. Money from the game would go into a Veterans Homelessness Assistance Fund, created by the bill.
Alting says those dollars would flow, via grants, to organizations that help homeless veterans.
"It goes for temporary housing and yes it goes for clothing and yes it can go for hygiene and yes it can go for medical expense and so forth," Alting says.
Jennifer Layton runs the Lafayette Transitional Housing Center. She says the state doesn't provide any financial support to nonprofits that deal with homelessness, so the dollars, even limited to veterans, can help a great deal.
"Hopefully it will free up some other moneys that we'll then be able to utilize for the other 90 percent of the population that we work with," Layton says.
Alting says the scratch-off funds could also go towards mental health and drug addiction treatment — which he says are often at the root of veteran homelessness.
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Noble cause. However there have been cases where somewhere down the road funds get diverted if the pot starts bursting at the seams. What's that old saying" Hell is paved with good intentions." Let's hope lawmakers follow through on their quest to help veterans.
I like to brag about the Fresno Veterans Home of California. It is only four years old and hosts 300 Veterans. Some are married couples. There is now a two-year waiting list to get in.
The California legislature and Governor Jerry Brown deserve praise for this accomplishment. Charley Waters is a retired Marine who pushed this project through the Committees before he passed on.
The Home has taken a lot of homeless Vets off the streets.
It's time someone comes up with a game that help lottery players instead of coming up with ways to give their money to others.