LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – World War Two veterans Daniel Chevez and Thomas Pearson were greeted at the WWII memorial in Washington D.C. by lines of clapping students with roses.

Inside the memorial, students surrounded the veterans, handed them the roses, took photos with veterans and talked to them. Chevez, Pearson and Korean and Vietnam War veterans took a recent Honor Flight with Honor Flight Southern Nevada.

“I can’t believe it. It’s overwhelming, really. To see this many people and so much applauding for little old me. It makes me feel good,” said WWII veteran Daniel Chevez.

“I’m honored that they think so much of us,” said WWII veteran Thomas Pearson.

Honor Flight Southern Nevada’s mission is to honor the nation’s most senior veterans, WWII, Korea and Vietnam veterans, by taking them on a trip to Washington D.C to see memorials dedicated to their sacrifices. The all-volunteer non-profit supports veterans, so the trip comes at no cost to them.

At the WWII Memorial, 14-year-old Dallas student Kellan Fishpaw read a letter to Vietnam Veteran Donald Kapla, thanking him for his service to the United States.

“I need people who serve for us to know that they fought for our freedom and my thankfulness and gratefulness and gratitude for what they did for our country,” said Fishpaw.

“I had reservations about coming here, but now these people made me believe it was all worthwhile,” said Donald Kapla.

“It’s our pleasure to serve,” said Thomas Pearson.

Veterans toured several other memorials during the trip, including the Korean War and Vietnam War memorials, the United States Air Force Memorial, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, along with other stops.

Watch for more stories of the trip on FOX5 News. More information about Honor Flight can be found at honorflightsouthernnevada.org.

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WASHINGTON — Nearly 50 mayors from across the U.S. were in Washington, D.C. Tuesday advocating for federal solutions to address the housing and homelessness crisis. Among them was Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Frey is part of the bipartisan group of city mayors working with the Biden Administration, the Senate, and the House to fast-track changes to housing policy that will tackle homelessness.

“We are very focused on not just the people that are presently homeless, but the people that would experience homelessness if a single bad thing happened,” Frey told WCCO.

Since 2020, the city and Hennepin County have invested over $200 million of pandemic relief funding into housing and homelessness response. Simpson Housing Services, which provides shelter, is expanding and will soon break ground on a new shelter and apartments with additional on-site services.

“We’re looking to raise the bar in terms of quality and dignity with a purpose-built facility,” explained executive director Steve Horsfield. “No one sleeps on top of each other, no more bunks.”

“What we’ve been able to launch in the past four years has been working for folks,” said Danielle Werder, manager of Hennepin County’s office to end homelessness. “More people are getting housed, most people are service connected. We’ve moved more people into housing the last couple of years than we ever have.”

But the homeless population is still outpacing the efforts and some of the federal funding is set to end. There’s also the encampment issue that’s been fueling neighborhood frustration.

“They’re not safe for the people living in the encampments, and they’re not safe for the surrounding neighbors,” Frey said.

The group of mayors is pushing for an expansion of housing vouchers and subsidies for affordable housing to get more people off the streets and provide services to keep them housed.

“We’re saying one of the best ways to deal with homelessness is to give people homes,” Frey said.

One group particularly impacted by homelessness is those who have served in the U.S. military.

The task force of mayors would like to see an expansion of veteran eligibility for housing vouchers so that veterans don’t have to choose between their disability benefits and housing.

Sheridan High School’s “We the People” team brought home a Wyoming state championship at the district and state competition held last December in Cheyenne.

This gave the team the chance to compete at the national level, and from April 11 – April 17, the group took the trip to Washington DC. Twenty-six students competed in the competition, which tests each teams’ knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.

On April 29, SHS History teacher Michael Thomas and three of the Unit Quarterbacks talked about the national competition and the trip to Washington.

Michael Thomas:

Kena Mowry, a junior and the Unit 5 quarterback, added. She said she had been to DC before, and she

Unit 5 ranked 15^th in the nation in the competitions. The team members were Kena Mowry, Harper Scott, Lucy Brock, Erin Hoffman and Madi Wagner.

Suzie Foster, also a junior, and quarterback of Unit 3.

Anyone who is interested in the class should take it, Foster said, “You learn so much more than listening the lectures, and it applies so much to real life.”

May Lawson, a senior and quarterback of Unit 6 added and talked about other students who might be interested in being a part of the “We the People” team.

All three students felt that the class would help them to be more informed voters when they went to the polls. They also got to meet with two of Wyoming’s legislators, United States Senator John Barrasso and Representative Harriet Hageman while they were there. “It was really cool to interact with them.” Foster said.

As for future plans, two of the students are planning to go into law and one is planning to go into medicine, and they felt the “We the People” program would help them to better understand the issues that might affect their future careers.

They added a big thank you to the community for their financial support, and each student said how grateful they were to Sheridan for giving them this opportunity.

The group wore the fundraising T-shirts with sponsors names to promote Sheridan and Sheridan’s businesses all around the nation’s capital.