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Air Force veteran raises awareness for homeless female veterans

Suwannee Democrat - 8/7/2017

Aug. 07--TIFTON -- Lindsay Gutierrez is no longer in the Air Force, but she's still on a mission: helping homeless women veterans.

"Homeless women vets are the fastest growing homeless demographic," said Gutierrez. "It affects me on a personal level, having served. I just can't ignore it."

She got out of the Air Force in September after six years in the service.

Her goal was to go into social work, but she found herself missing the sense of camaraderie she had in those six years in the military.

"I wasn't sure where to find that," said Gutierrez.

She moved to Lakeland with her husband, an airman who was stationed at Moody Air Force Base.

Then she found out about Final Salute and Ms. Veteran America.

The goal of Final Salute and Ms. Veteran America is to help homeless female veterans and raise awareness of the increasing levels of homeless female veterans.

Founded by Jaspin Boothe in 2010--herself a female veteran who was once homeless--Final Salute works to help the estimated 55,000 homeless women veterans in the United States.

Structured like a pageant, Ms. Veteran America is open to any woman, any age, from any branch of the military, whether active member or veteran.

While it borrows the pageant structure, Ms. Veteran America diverges from the common pageant tropes and categories.

Instead, contestants are judged on advocacy character, service and community involvement.

After becoming a finalist for Ms. Veteran American and an ambassador for Final Salute, its mission became Gutierrez's mission as well.

Gutierrez plans to take the story to homeless female veterans to the public, talking to media, civic groups, clubs and organizations about her mission.

"My goal is to really get the public involved," said Gutierrez. "There comes a point where community assistance is crucial. It's not a problem that one person can solve."

Ms. Veteran America does keep one thing from beauty pageants: the talent portion.

For that, Gutierrez told a story.

She talked about God reaching out and trying to communicate with people.

God spoke, but all the words fell on deaf ears.

Storytelling is a talent that will serve her well as she spends the next few months telling the story of homeless female veterans.

"It's not something I take lightly," said Gutierrez. "It's a mission."

To contact Gutierrez about speaking or for more information, contact her at lindsayg4mva2017@gmail.com or donate to her fundraising efforts at https://www.crowdrise.com/mva2017lindsayg.

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(c)2017 the Suwannee Democrat (Live Oak, Fla.)

Visit the Suwannee Democrat (Live Oak, Fla.) at www.suwanneedemocrat.com

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