A great event in Lyndora this week will kick off a month that draws awareness to an issue deserving of more attention.

The fourth annual Homeless Veteran Stand Down will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Tanglewood Center. The event provides local veterans with a variety of necessities, such as food, clothing, job counseling, medical assistance, haircuts and other forms of support.

It’s also planned in accordance with the beginning of November, which is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month and includes Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, running this year from Nov. 16 to 24.

Although homelessness is not as prevalent in Pennsylvania as it is in other states — it ranks about eighth in the nation — there are still estimated to be about 15,000 people who are homeless on any given day in the commonwealth, according to the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that about 11 percent of the U.S. adult homeless population is veterans.

A 2017 study on homeless veterans by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ranked Pennsylvania sixth in the nation with about 963 veterans who didn’t have a roof over their heads on any given night, although it also found that Pennsylvania had the third largest decrease — at 15 percent — in the number of homeless veterans over a period of 10 years.

That same study found that 62 percent of homeless veterans nationwide were housed in emergency shelters or transitional housing facilities, and that 38 percent were living in places “not suitable for human habitation.”

In our state and around the nation, people who risked their lives to keep our country safe are struggling and in many cases lacking the barest essentials to survive.

This week’s Stand Down event is a great opportunity for our community to say “thank you” to those who have served and provide some basic services to veterans in need.

The organizers of this year’s event said local residents can still help by dropping off backpacks at the Housing and Redevelopment Authority County of Butler, located at 114 Woody Drive, during business hours. They noted that veterans often carry everything they own in a backpack.

We wish the event much success, and hope that Butler County residents looking to donate or provide assistance recognize that helping local veterans in need is a year-round effort.