Three years ago, Veronique left a highly successful career in radio broadcasting to advocate and become a voice for the homeless at the Next Door Homeless Shelter for Women in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Today, Veronique has helped hundreds of women overcome homelessness, providing them with an abundance of encouragement, motivation, compassion, love and hospitality.

Veronique works twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. She drives homeless residents to court appearances, twelve-step recovery meetings and health appointments. She grocery shops every week for the shelter and drives the residents to job interviews and the hospital, when necessary. She even takes them to affordable housing sites and helps them get accepted there.

Veronique has made a tremendous difference for residents at the shelter – residents like the woman who couldn't find a job due to chronic withdrawals from alcohol/drugs and the grotesque condition of her teeth. Veronique made sure she was seen by a dentist who would perform oral surgery free of charge and drove her to all of her appointments, as well as to twelve-step meetings to help her recover from her drug and alcohol dependence.

Veronique knows the plight of the homeless all too well. She herself was homeless for about ten years, living on the streets of Denver, Chicago, Cincinnati and Kentucky. She was left for dead on several occasions and became ill while she had no health insurance.

Today, Veronique helps others in the same position she was once in herself. In addition to her work with the Next Door Homeless Shelter, she is now active with Health Care for the Homeless and serves as Co-Chair for the National Consumer Advisory Board in Washington.

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