An appeal for help for Doug Drews

BY BARRY REISCH

Long time Vets For Peace member, Viet Nam vet and Agent Orange sufferer, Doug Drews has been struggling for years with health issues and trying his darndest to keep working to keep from losing his home which he built for himself and his family years ago. His home has already gone through the foreclosure process and sheriff’s sale, but the banks haven’t acted within the law in this processs so Doug is still fighting to save his home. He needs $6,500.00 within the next two weeks to assist him in his bargaining power to save his home and allow him to reclaim his mortgage.

Those who want to donate can make checks to Doug Drews and send them to:
Veterans For Peace, Chapter 27, 2123 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis MN 55404, or:

Mayday Bookstore, 301 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis MN 55454.
From Michael A Shapiro’s Blog, Dec. 11, 2008:

About two weeks ago I was looking around the warehouse district of Minneapolis, and I stopped in at the Corner Coffee Shop (which is not on a corner) and sat down to look at a map. The guy in the above photo sat down at the next table, and for some reason that I can’t even remember, I started talking with him. Eventually I was sitting at his table taking pictures.

Doug Drews is a Vietnam veteran who is suffering from several serious diseases that he contracted while serving his country. When he started telling me his story and how it fit with similar stories from thousands of other soldiers, I was enraged. While I was absolutely against the Vietnam war, I was even more against the way the government treats its soldiers. The vets are often denied adequate health care or at least discouraged from seeking it. The effects of diseases and disorders contracted during the war are everlasting and life changing. Often they are life ruining.

I had trouble grasping that after all these years, the government hadn’t yet been brought to toe the mark, and that so many of these men and women were still suffering, living in jail or on the street, or dying prematurely.