NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. - Like any large city, San Diego has a growing population of homeless people.

Homelessness in San Diego County increased by three percent during the past five years to more than 9,000 people, according to a report last month by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless. Of those, eight percent are veterans.

That’s eight percent too many for Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) administrative assistant Brent Asten.

Asten, a U.S. Marine veteran, founded “Operation 2^nd Chance” in March with the intent to find ways to mitigate the homeless veteran population of San Diego. 

The first Operation 2^nd Chance event focused on the residents of Veterans Village of San Diego, a nonprofit organization that provides medical and counseling services to homeless vets and their families.

“The residents of this facility have made the conscience decision to get out of homelessness and do whatever it takes to make their lives better, and that is why we wanted to help them,” Asten said.

“The point was to raise money for hot meals and haircuts for these veterans. For most of these individuals who are just coming off of the street a haircut and a hot meal is a luxury that they do not have.”

A member of the all veteran rock band “The Alpha Vets,” Asten coordinated with the Bali Hai restaurant for food and venue, and local radio station KGB for a disc jockey and sponsorship.

On March 30 more than $2,100 was raised, enough for 179 haircuts and 179 hot meals.

“This first event was a success, and we’ve been invited to come back and continue it on an annual basis,” Asten noted.

Meanwhile, Operation 2^nd Chance is currently working on its next project which will be to provide a couple of cars to veterans in need of transportation.