Las Vegas homeless veterans advocate attends speech
WASHINGTON — Just one year after being a homeless veteran, Cynthia Dias of Las Vegas was a special guest Tuesday in first lady Michelle Obama's box listening to the president of the United States deliver his State of the Union address.
"It was an outstanding speech," Dias said, checking off the many issues addressed by President Barack Obama in his televised speech to the nation from the historic U.S. House chamber.
Sitting several seats away from the first lady, Dias spent most of the speech leaning forward as she listened intently to the president's words.
In addition to attending the presidential address on Capitol Hill, Dias and Arnold Stalk, founder of the nonprofit Veterans Village, where Dias now lives and works as a volunteer homeless veterans advocate, met with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and the first lady at the White House.
"Cynthia and I stood in front of the White House for a while and just said a prayer," Stalk said, describing the entire experience as "surreal."
The two also met with U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro at his agency.
Stalk, who hopes to open a second Veterans Village location in Las Vegas, took the opportunity to discuss so-called VASH vouchers, which he said was an existing program with both HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He said Dias served as a perfect example of what the program can do by taking someone he described as chronically homeless and helping them become self-sufficient.
"She was a great backup for me today," Stalk said.
He said he did not want their visit to the nation's capital to be nothing more than a meet and greet with top officials.
Stalk said they also met with U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and the staff of U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.
