For the first year ever, the ROTC program of The University of Arizona will be holding “Boots For Vets,” a donation event that provides hundreds of homeless veterans in Arizona with military shoe attire. Donations will be taken until Nov. 9. Then, all of the boots and shoes will be lined up on the UA Mall from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. 

Scott Jessee, administrative assistant in Military Aerospace Studies, said the idea to give boots to homeless veterans came to him one day when he was in the basement of Bear Down Gym. In the back room, he spotted over 100 pairs of military boots. 

Jessee suggested the ROTC give them to homeless veterans, and with that, Boots for Vets was created. 

“The boots that we donate, obviously we’re gonna need those because it’ll be winter time soon,” Jessee said. “We also have Air Force dress shoes, and so they use those to go on job interviews.” 

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Donation boxes can be found at UA’s South Hall, located at 1042 E. South Campus, as well as the Veterans Education and Transition Center on the third floor of the Student Union Memorial Center. 

In conjunction with the UA’s ROTC, the Veterans Administration and American Red Cross will be coming to the Mall to give a presentation on the Boots for Vets donation.

Cody Nicholls, assistant dean of students for Military and Veteran Engagement explained how a population like homeless veterans can fall through the cracks. 

“It’s understandable why some folks might not even think of issues that are ongoing that affect certain populations,” he said. “Homelessness happens to be one that disproportionately affects veteran population, so to bring awareness to this is part of that.”

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