The veterans of Ventura County, and those of us who work to support these veterans, want you to know that a real-life angel has just gotten his wings… a giant 190 pound, furry, white, tail-wagging angel named Leo, who has saved many more lives than any fictional movie character.
Leo was a homeless Alaskan Malamute dog that was adopted at a young age by Rafael Stoneman, an Army veteran who was living through periods of homelessness and personal difficulties himself. After Gold Coast Veterans Foundation helped Rafael get his life back on a positive path, he came back to help other veterans as a volunteer; he knew his own skills and life experience could help other at-risk and homeless veterans get their lives back on track.
Rafael soon realized that his buddy Leo was the “secret weapon” that would help him connect with the most difficult homeless veterans – the ones who usually wouldn’t talk to anybody. But the sight of a giant white dog, who looked like big friendly Polar Bear, could melt the heart of even the most isolated and anti-social veterans. Leo gave their partnership the incredible ability to make contact and establish a genuine rapport with veterans who had refused contact or help from everybody else.
GCVF’s leadership created a new program, “Mobile Veteran Outreach”, to support Rafael and Leo roaming the streets of Ventura County, bringing life-saving care and services directly to homeless veterans at their location. Leo’s big smile started literally hundreds of conversations with at-risk veterans, the very first step in rescuing them from the street, and the start of repairing broken lives.
When COVID caused most other social services to close their doors, leaving homeless veterans at the very highest possible risk of death… Leo and his partner Rafael were out on the streets, saving lives on the front lines of the battle, getting homeless veterans engaged into emergency services. The MVO program and its star players soon became famous for rescuing the most contact-resistant, hardest to serve veterans – the veterans that other agencies had ‘written off’ as unable to save. The all-important, make-or-break first contact with these veterans was only possible because of Leo, the secret weapon in the battle against veteran homelessness.
Since the launch of the MVO program in November 2019, Leo and his best friend Rafael have rescued over 250 American veterans and families from homelessness in Ventura County. The street outreach program they pioneered has now proven itself in battle, during a world health crisis and beyond, to be a primary component in the new national standard of care for high-risk American veterans.
Rest in Peace Leo. Your spirit, and the lives you helped save, changed the way we will care for our veterans forever. Congratulations on getting your wings, you’ve earned them.
On behalf of the more than 250 homeless veterans you saved, we thank you… REMEMBERING LEO WEBPAGE LINK
Gold Coast Veterans Foundation LINK
Media Contact
Robert Harris, Gold Coast Veterans Foundation, 1 8054826550, [email protected], Gold Coast Veterans Foundation
SOURCE Gold Coast Veterans Foundation
