Being street homeless isn’t like being on maneuver in the Army.
Nobody has your back when you are homeless.
And the training we get don’t always convert to the streets.
I got housed after landing a job at a factory and was happy to have that part of my life behind me. However, in Sept 2018 the doctor discovered that I had a neurological disorder that was preventing me from standing for long periods. I was put on medical leave. Cigna would not give me short term disability because the doctor would not give me a return to work date because he wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with me. He still isn’t.
I went through my savings and was on the verge of losing everything. Then my brother killed himself when his ALS progressed. I knew I was on the verge of being on the street again.
But this time I was sick.
I had made the decision I wasn’t going to be in this world if that was what I had to do. And in stepped Mary T Klinker Vet Center. They helped pay my rent, keeping a roof over my head. But like the old adage, “Give a man a fish he eats for a day; teach a man to fish he eats for life”, the Mary T Klinker people not only helped with my emergency needs, they helped me obtain a job that I could do with my disease. They even helped make my car payment until I got paid so I could keep working. Now I am a productive member of society again and I know where I will lay my head each night I come home from work.
I am grateful for my new bosses at Perry Foam for understanding that I am sick but I want to work. I feel safe there. I don’t know what my disease is yet and I will continue testing until they figure it out.
I don’t need financial help anymore and I am grateful for that but Mary T Klinker continues to provide me support by checking on me and encouraging me. Soon I will be ahead again. And I intend on giving back to the organization so they can help other Veterans like me.
I hope that anyone reading this will consider doing the same. They only run on donations, but they do very important work.
Thank you and God Bless.