A rally for homeless vets Monday

On Monday, July 15, U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey, D-Westchester/Rockland, Sean Patrick Maloney, D- Westchester/Orange/Putnam/Dutchess, and Eliot Engel, D-Bronx/Westchester, will host a press conference with veterans advocates and service providers to announce new federal funding to help homeless veterans and their families in the Lower Hudson Valley.

The event is 10 a.m. in the training room of the Westchester Community Opportunity Program (WestCOP), 2269 Saw Mill River Road, Building #3, Elmsford.

WestCOP serves as an umbrella organization for 12 local community action programs (CAPs) in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties ”“ the “nucleus” of its operation.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that more than 60,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in the United States. There was no number offered on the regional problem.

Chartered in 1965, nonprofit WestCOP receives more than 60 grants from corporations, government, foundations and individuals to sponsor programs including Head Start; substance abuse; family living; homeless prevention and assistance; emergency food pantries; surplus food distribution; energy conservation and weatherization programs; and numerous employment and training programs.

WestCOP services include foster grandparents programs; an emergency homeless men”™s shelter; seniors in community services; victims assistance services; rape crisis services; a rape hotline; adolescent pregnancy prevention; and services for the elderly.