Homeless Marine Veteran Finds Success Through Work

I am of a veteran out of the Marine Corps. PTSD and alcohol brought me to homelessness. I was living in an encampment up off the hillside. It was OK because the other guys around me also chose to keep their tent area clean.

The part that wasn’t OK, was the loneliness and the lack of self-esteem. I’d lost everything. I had been at a Monday night dinner, when an announcement was made that soon a day center and night shelter would be opening for us. I really saw this as my one chance to try to get out of homelessness.

Right from the first we were asked to help out around the place, because staff was going to be limited, and if we wanted more we needed to help for more. That all made sense to me because that’s how it was in the Marine Corps and on my job. If I wanted more I needed to work for it.

So I started volunteering. After six months, the SunDown Shelter was opened and I was chosen within a month of that opening to become a site manager! It’s giving me the chance to get my life back in order.

A year later, one of the other staff offered to rent me a room in their home. I’ve been able to pay my rent every month, and share in the household chores. I’m back seeking help for my PTSD, and working hard on being able to regain the life I once had. No one else would’ve hired me out of homelessness.

I am for ever grateful for the help that was provided.