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Business & Tech

Club Calls for Donations of Toiletries, Cell Phones for Homeless Veterans

Vietnam vet Phil Landis will speak at the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club meeting Wednesday.

Linda Armacost thinks the words “homeless” and “veteran” should never have to be used in the same sentence. The state of military veterans is a subject that hits close to home because her husband, Garry, a Vietnam vet who received the Purple Heart, still suffers from PTSD.

“I do spend time at the VA with my husband,” said Armacost, president of the . “All you have to do is sit there for a couple of hours and see the wounded hearts and wounded minds. It’s heartbreaking and very emotional.”

In an effort to help local veterans, the club is collecting new and unused toiletry items at its meeting Wednesday, July 6, which will be given to an organization that distributes them to homeless veterans.

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“We’re also collecting old cell phones, and the money will be used to buy phone cards for serving military people overseas,” Armacost said.

The club is hosting guest speaker Phil Landis, president and CEO of Veterans Village of San Diego. Landis served as a platoon leader and headquarters company commander with the First Battalion 35th Infantry before being honorably discharged in 1969.

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The program begins at 7 p.m. at the .

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