Dec. 21 marks the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. The longest night that the over 40,000 homeless veterans, some with children and others with mental health issues, will spend on the street. American Legion Post 45, along with Unit 45 and the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans program, again held the annual candlelight vigil at the nation's only statue honoring homeless veterans, at Cherokee County Veterans Park.

The vigil that started at sundown was attended by a small crowd on this Sunday night to lay wreaths at the statue of the male and female veteran that resides in this park. The statue is registered with the national monuments.

Doing this event every year helps us focus on those who served and are in need of help, noted Jim Lindenmayer, director of the Cherokee County Homeless Veteran program. In less than 40 days, we will have teams of veterans searching for all homeless as we once again participate in our 11th National HUD Homeless Point in Time Count. This year the Point in Time, or PIT count as it is known, will look for unsheltered homeless. It is key that the 159 counties count correctly, as SSVF and HUD VASH programs are dependent on the number of veteran homeless counted.

This is something of concern, as last year only 37 of the 159 counties turned in sheltered homeless counts. This is a 20% response rate, and within the 37 there were 284 homeless veterans who were in shelters counted. Most of the veterans in the state of Georgia would be identified as unsheltered, as there are no veteran-only shelters north of downtown Atlanta.

Cherokee County has a number of veterans and non-veterans who are homeless. Cherokee County has over 16,000 veterans living in our community, which puts us in the top 10 counties in the state.