Danny Trejo And Dr. Michael Everest Reveal Long-Term Plans To Help Homeless U.S. Vets

By  //  November 18, 2020

The community outreach program ‘Bibles and Tacos’, initiated by LA actor and restaurateur Danny Trejo in collaboration with the Everest Foundation, has been active for the last few months and beneficiaries include thousands of individuals belonging mostly to the underprivileged sections of the society. 

Both Dr. Michael Everest, the founder of the Everest Foundation, and Trejo think that in these trying times, people need to be more generous and giving than ever. The current pandemic has hit many lower-income groups whose livelihood opportunities have been severely restricted due to the unforeseen changes caused by the pandemic.

Aid to Homeless US Vets

One of the latest ventures of Trejo and Dr. Everest was the distribution of the Bible and food among homeless US veterans living in ramshackle canvas tents inside the campus of LA Westside Veteran Administration.

Although the vets who received the aids expressed their sincere gratitude for the organizers, both Trejo and Dr. Everest believed that their bid to help the US vets, especially those living in dire circumstances, could not end with this one-day event. And Trejo remarked that they are looking into ways to help homeless US vets all over America.

In fact, during the event, it came to light that the Everest Foundation has already begun working toward this goal with its singular ‘Exoskeleton Program.’ Introduced at New York Bronx VA, the program aims to treat US vets suffering from spinal cord injuries so that they can “walk again.” Dr. Everest also revealed during the event that the foundation is already planning to extend this initiative to many other Veteran Administration centers across America.

Danny Trejo, a native of LA, Trejo was born to Mexican-American parents. He also happens to be a cousin of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez with whom he collaborated on several projects, most famously in the film ‘Machete’. To date, Trejo has acted in over 400 films, in addition to acting in several television projects. Trejo led a hard life as a construction worker and then as a hardened criminal before eventually transitioning to acting.

More recently, he has also earned a name as a popular restaurateur and currently owns three different restaurants—Trejo’s Tacos, Trejo’s Cantina, and Trejo’s Coffee & Donuts— all located in the city of Los Angeles. Besides being a famous actor and restaurateur, Trejo is also known as an avid philanthropist as well as a drug counselor.

The Everest Foundation

The Everest Foundation chiefly focuses on promoting Graduate Medical Education and research in the country. It works with many top medical schools in the country and makes long-term donations in the form of residency programs, research fellowships, various grants, and the like.

It has in the past collaborated with top institutes like Icahn School of Medicine, University of California Davis, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Harvard University, New York Medical College, University of California-Irvine, and Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, among others.

Dr. Michael Everest informs that the foundation generously supports medical research partly because of reverence for his father, Dr. Edwin Everest, who believed that medical education, on the whole, could immensely benefit society.

Asked about his own opinion, Dr. Everest remarked that he is particularly enthusiastic about researches carried out in the fields like nanotechnology and stem cell research. He says that research activities in these fields strongly indicate that our approach to how we diagnose and treat diseases will radically change in the future.

The foundation also lends generous support to many community-based health programs, especially in rural or semi-urban areas. In the same vein, it also encourages Everest Scholars, as also those benefiting from various foundation grants, to serve underserved communities for 3-5 years post-residency.