The Community Word

One in four veterans in the United States are homeless; and, with the early presence of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans showing up at shelters, veteran’s affairs directors are expecting a “tsunami of homeless veterans” in the near future.

That’s why Bob Johnson is starting a shelter for veterans at 416 N.E. Jefferson Street which he hopes to have opened sometime in 2009. The new shelter is located next door to the current Salvation Army Shelter for homeless men at 414 N.E. Jefferson where Johnson works as the volunteer veteran’s coordinator. He has worked diligently towards getting this venture going for two years in partnership with the Salvation Army.

“All this is a trial run,” says Johnson, since the new facility will initially only house 12 – 15 veterans. He hopes to catapult it into something bigger later.

Johnson says he works with at least five to six veterans daily in the current Salvation Army Shelter (which houses 65) but is expecting an influx of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans very soon: “I have already had a couple of Iraq War veterans in here” he admits.

“In the next month we will start painting the (new shelter’s) building on the outside,” proudly states Johnson.

“I have veterans to volunteer; social workers, alcohol assistance people – it will be run strictly by veterans but in partnership with the Salvation Army,” says Johnson.

Also, he has recruited the Retired Sears Ladies Club who will man phones, and adopt a veteran to help them obtain a job, apartment, whatever is needed. His philosophy is to keep things as simple as he can.

“We will have a place where they can take a shower and they can go out and look for a job,” Johnson says.

“We will set up a separate account through the Salvation Army earmarked for the veterans,” says Johnson. “Anybody that donates (to this venture) it will go through the Salvation Army but be earmarked as our money,” he concludes. He currently has financial assistance donated by the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) chapter #175.

“They (MOPH) will be one of the top contributors,” Johnson says, who claims it is too soon to reveal other corporate or individual contributors to the shelter.

The building, which is donated by the Salvation Army, has been sitting idle for the past four years housing ‘Toys for Tots’ Marine gear. A former marine himself, Johnson (who has been frustrated by the bureaucratic red tape of current veterans and non-profit help groups in the area) maintains: “Our philosophy is that veterans helping veterans is the only way to go.”

He enthuses, “This building is perfect. The guys will be able to eat here if they have to and if I have a guy that needs emergency food, I can get emergency food with the Salvation Army. It’s a ‘win’ for me here,” he concludes about being housed in a Salvation Army facility with access to many of their services. “Where else could I get this at?”

Johnson explains that unlike the Salvation Army facility which takes in anyone who requires food or a bed with no restrictions as to how long they can stay or requirements for getting jobs, this new veterans facility will be slightly different.

“They (veterans) will have to have something in progress; if they need to get on disability, need to get an apartment, need to get a job, we will help them,” says Johnson.

“Their biggest problem is usually drugs or alcohol and mental problems,” says Johnson. “The majority of the homeless are in that category,” he surmises and 75% of the homeless veterans have these problems.

“The Salvation Army has a drug and alcohol facility in Springfield and I take guys down there,” says Johnson, relating that no one else volunteers to do it.

“The case worker here gets it set up, the Salvation Army gives me a vehicle and I take them to Springfield.” He says the Springfield program is of six months duration: “If it takes longer, you can stay longer,” he concludes.

Johnson also coordinates with the Veteran’s Administration Clinic for medical needs.

“And then we deal with the Peoria Vet’s Center who deal with depression,” he adds. “The Vet’s Center is available to come down here to have group therapy sessions, and after we get the new center set up we will set a night for them to come,” says Johnson.

Meanwhile Johnson works out of the current Salvation Army facility with the five to six vets he sees per day out of the 65 souls they currently house every night and feed every day. He surmises that there are at least five to six veterans at the other Salvation Army shelter further downtown. Johnson doesn’t keep track of vets being helped by all the other shelters run by various organizations around town.

“I do the veteran’s part here – if he needs to be directed somewhere I help him,” says Johnson. “A lot of them don’t even know that they have assistance from the V.A. down at the clinic. I get them down there and enrolled in that: I.D. cards (because they are homeless out here); birth certificates, and stuff like that. And, we do feed them here.”

Johnson says all he needs money for right now is bus passes for the veterans to get down to the VA clinic or out to the social security offices.

“If I have a veteran that can get a job, I will get him a 30-day bus pass so he can get back and forth until his first paycheck comes through,” says Johnson.

He tells of an Iraq war veteran named Steve from the Purple Hearts Club: “He came in here just before last Christmas, and he had a family. He had had a business partner with which he built houses and when he came back from Iraq his business partner had taken everything. He had nothing. Somebody gave him my name and he came down here.” says Johnson.

“I asked him if he had toys and food for his children and he said, ‘No, not really.’ So, I signed him up for a Salvation Army Christmas basket. He came back a couple of weeks later and he had been adopted by a family (through Salvation Army) and he had gotten a $300 Kroger Christmas Card, and the guy almost cried. It just tore me up so badly I couldn’t stand it,” Johnson remembers.

“Sometimes I look around and just say, ‘Why in the heck am I here?’” asks the regularly overwhelmed Johnson who currently helps feed all 65 shelter residents.

And then he remembers his former marine stepson Kyle Harrell who was murdered in 2001 by an unknown assailant: It was Kyle and Johnson’s dream to start something for homeless vets ever since Kyle encountered a homeless veteran who dropped into his air conditioning business and asked where he could get some help.

Then John remembers and knows: Kyle would be so proud.

Editor’s note: Anyone interested in volunteering or giving any type of assistance to the new Veteran’s Shelter can call Veterans Representative Bob Johnson on his cell phone: 868-5072 or the Salvation Army offices at 414 N.E. Jefferson St. at (309) 655-7272.