[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 31324-31325]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING MR. ROY FOSTER AS A 2009 TOP 10 CNN HERO

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 9, 2009

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
courageous veteran turned social activist, Mr. Roy Foster. Mr. Foster 
is the founder of Stand Down House, an organization in South Florida 
that has been providing veterans with life-changing assistance since 
2000. His hard work and dedication has earned him the esteemed 
distinction of 2009 Top 10 CNN Hero. CNN Heroes is an annual awards 
ceremony that recognizes ``everyday people changing the world.'' Mr. 
Foster was one of ten CNN Heroes chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of 
distinguished leaders and humanitarians, including Retired General 
Colin Powell, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sir Elton John, from an initial pool 
of more than 9,000 viewer nominations.
  Mr. Foster knows all too well how hard it is to find programs that 
help veterans deal with addiction and homelessness because he used to 
be one of them. Born in rural Georgia, Mr. Foster joined the Army right 
after high school. Throughout his six years in the military, he drank 
alcohol and experimented with drugs. By the time he left the Army in 
1980, Mr. Foster was an alcoholic and his drug use had begun to 
escalate as he struggled to deal with life after the Army. Like many 
people dealing with addiction, Mr. Foster spent nights sleeping on the 
streets as he battled his disease for many years.
  After starting a life of sobriety in the early 1990s, Mr. Foster used 
his experiences to become an effective substance abuse counselor. 
Acknowledging the problems that veterans dealing with substance abuse 
face, Mr. Foster and another veteran, the late Don Reed, established 
the non- profit Faith*Hope*Love*Charity, Inc. so that veterans would no 
longer fall through the cracks of an imperfect system.
  After six years of work, Mr. Foster founded Stand Down House to help 
fellow veterans who are struggling and have lost their homes, dignity, 
and the ability to lead productive lives. Through referral by the 
Veterans Administration (VA) and with help from their funding, Stand 
Down House provides transitional housing and support services to 45 
veterans in different stages of recovery. This support includes 
housing, clothing, counseling, life skills classes for up to two years, 
and transportation to the VA hospital for medical and mental

[[Page 31325]]

health care. The goal is to not only assist veterans in their recovery 
process, but give them the tools to find employment or attend school 
after their recovery process is over.
  At Stand Down House, veterans realize that they are not alone in 
their struggles after returning home, which allows for veterans of all 
ages to become a support system for one another. This often leads to 
veterans becoming informal counselors to each other and making sure 
that one another stay on track. Many graduates of the program find the 
bond of friendship and support so beneficial that they return as 
volunteers to give back to others in need, especially with many 
veterans now returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq.
  Madam Speaker, I truly admire the work that Mr. Roy Foster has done, 
and continues to do, for our nation's veterans each and every single 
day. After serving our country so valiantly, no veteran should ever 
have to face the future alone.

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