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HOMELESS VETERANS FACILITY SET TO OPEN IN
FLORIDA --
"If I can help just one person, it will be a
true blessing for me."
Story here...
http://www.news-journalonline.com/
NewsJournalOnline/News/Loca
l/newWEST01042807.htm
Story below:
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Homeless veterans facility set to open
By DEBORAH CIRCELLI
Staff Writer
DELAND -- Looking through a reading book for a college exam next week,
Chris Langan is far from his days of drinking and living on the streets
and in the woods over the past seven years.
Drinking has been a way of life for Langan, 57, who grew up in Volusia
County. It was part of his escape as a teen serving two tours in Vietnam
on a Navy destroyer, bombing cities and villages, he said, and serving
on a rescue team recovering bodies of pilots who were shot down.
Alcohol was all he knew again in 2000 when his mom died and "I lost my
will to live," he said, feeling lonely because his siblings and father
had also died.
Now, after finishing a substance-abuse treatment program at Serenity
House West and being sober for 11 months, he's waiting to get into a new
16-bed facility for homeless veterans in Volusia and Flagler counties
and North Florida.
Taking a break from his studies Friday, the former painter by trade
watched from next door at Serenity House West as local and federal
dignitaries celebrated completion of the Veterans Transitional Living
Facility that opens next month.
Langan, who will be the first client, helped paint the inside and
outside of the new facility off U.S. 92 and Big John Drive.
"There is hope," Langan said before the ceremony, reflecting on almost
finishing his first semester at Daytona Beach Community College. "I had
not been to school in 40 years. I'm so elated. I didn't think I could do
it."
Now, he will have a place to live as he seeks an associate's degree in
human services with a specialty in addictions. He said he wants to help
others like himself.
The veterans facility cost $250,000, partially paid for with a federal
grant.
Veterans, who will be referred from Veterans Affairs and the Daytona
Beach Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic, can stay up to 18 months.
Caseworkers will link them with other benefits, job training and
education. Resident veterans will pay 30 percent of their income to stay
at the facility, living independently until they can get into a home of
their own.
The beds at the facility are expected to fill up quickly, said Randy
Croy, Serenity House executive director. A recent survey by the
Volusia/Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless showed about 23
percent of more than 2,600 homeless people in the two-county area are
veterans. Croy, who serves on the coalition board, believes the numbers
are as high as 35 percent.
"It's a sad state of affairs, in my opinion," Croy said.
Joie Alexander, Volusia County Council vice chairwoman, agreed. At the
ceremony, she said, "to our sadness and shame," many men and women who
served are on the streets. They gave up what they hold dear "so we can
have safety and stability."
Officials at the Daytona Beach Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic said
earlier this year that about 200 to 300 of the 18,000 veterans they
serve in Volusia, Flagler and surrounding counties are homeless.
Nationally, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that on any
given night there are about 195,000 homeless veterans.
Croy said the original intent of the project, planned several years ago,
was to help Vietnam War veterans, but now there is a need for soldiers
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, who helped secure federal funding
for the new facility, said at the ceremony that he prays nightly for
soldiers serving today and veterans. He said his father died at a
crowded veterans hospital in Miami in 1972, which has pushed him to
fight for better services.
"Dreams can come true, and we can make this a better place for people,"
Mica said.
Langan, who was in the Navy for six years, said God and Serenity House
pulled him through. "I've come to know me again. I don't have to use
drugs and alcohol to cover up my feelings," Langan said.
After college, he hopes to work locally helping others get off alcohol
and drugs.
"I want to be a part of helping people who lived in misery like I did,"
Langan said. "If I can help just one person, it will be a true blessing
for me."
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Larry Scott --
