Ron Edwards, a singer/songwriter, CEO and President of Focus Advertising Specialties Ltd. Co. and Focus Publishing; and who is a second generation U.S. Veteran of the United States Marine Corps, has set his sights on making a significant difference for homeless Veterans.
Edwards has an invested passion for homeless Veterans as he was a homeless Veteran in 1985 after receiving an Honorable Discharge from Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California. He was homeless in Los Angeles for nearly four months.
Edward's life changed with a bold decision to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico to live with a friend in 1988, where he began to put his life together. He met and married his business partner/wife, the former Mrs. Kathryn Staplin, and they are the proud successful business owners of the businesses previously mentioned.
Edwards says he received his opportunity to serve when Cabinet Secretary, John Garcia, asked him to write a song about homeless Veterans. “I didn't think twice. I did it. I asked God's help with this because that is always the source of my inspiration and I received this song ‘You Have Forgotten Me'. I asked Larry Mitchell, a 2008 Grammy award winner Producer, to serve as engineer and producer of the song.
After we recorded ‘You Have Forgotten Me', it occurred to me that the song could be a vehicle to raise money for homeless Veterans across America.”
Edwards stated their mission is to assist homeless Veterans in getting off the streets and into transitional housing facilities, by raising money through the sales of their Single Song Benefit CD. “I wanted to create something with this song that Americans would want to be a part of and get involved with. Ten dollars is the cost of the CD and that may seem like a small amount of money to address such a huge problem, but it's a project that will have direct benefits for programs that serve homeless Veterans,” says Edwards.
The first 3 million dollars raised from the sale of this CD is earmarked for the Veterans Integration Center. This money will be used to purchase and renovate the building. That currently has an 80 bed capacity and a 300 person waiting list.
With the war in Afghanistan in its seventh year and the war in Iraq in its fifth, the Department of Defense says about 1,500 Veterans of the conflicts are homeless -- and many more could be in the coming years. Advocates for homeless Veterans expect the worst scenarios for these numbers as both wars continue and thousands of Veterans struggle with post-traumatic stress.
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