Shepherd’s House offers a fresh start for veterans
Written by: Elbert Starks III of The News-Sentinel
Up for the day by 7 a.m.
Lights out by 11 p.m.
In between, everybody cleans the living spaces – showers, toilets, floors, walls. Everybody has specific duties, including rotation in the kitchen.
Seniority and adherence to rules means residents are eligible for privileges, not automatically granted them. Failure to comply with those rules means the likely loss of privileges and stripping of seniority.
That’s how the military works, and the rules at Shepherd’s House, 519 Tennessee Ave., give homeless veterans a sense of the discipline they once lived with.
Not all the residents are veterans of the armed services. The facility, a long-term, transitional housing center for alcohol- and chemically addicted men, can assist up to 41 residents at a time. There are 36 clients now, and about 85 percent were members of the armed forces, said Lonnie Cox, the founder and executive director.
Veterans Day is an opportunity to honor those who have served in the armed forces, to thank them for their service to the country.
But sometimes, as is the case for some residents at Shepherd’s House, circumstances or harmful choices have caused such difficulty to former members of the military that they lose their sense of self and, as Cox termed it, their dignity.
That’s why Cox and the facility’s director, Jim Zuber, have Shepherd’s House structured the way they do. Cox and Zuber are former Marines. The house manager, Victor Brown, served in the Army.
With the rules of Shepherd’s House, men who might have shown up with nothing, not even a change of clothes, can begin to rebuild their lives – with the kind of structure that, at some point, was familiar to them.
“Shepherd’s House will give you the opportunity to reassess your life,” Brown said. “For instance, you have to get up by 7 a.m. Every day. You have to prepare yourself to work. To prepare yourself to do a job. Or do a job search.
“You have to be here at a certain time, or there at a certain time. That’s important for some people who are trying to get off the streets and do better things with their life.”
Shepherd’s House residents are required to commit to at least six months of care to be admitted and are required to attend meetings and visits with counselors.
They are encouraged, but not required, to examine whether faith can be a part of their recoveries and lives, and Bible study is a part of the curriculum at the facility. Shepherd’s House is a nonprofit, certified 501(c)3. Cox and his wife, Barb, opened it in another location in 1998.
The veterans who are at Shepherd’s House have a foundation of discipline with which to work, Cox points out. That can still be nurtured, if the men come to the facility and put in the effort.
“These men have been trained to make it on their own, or as part of a team,” Cox said. “But where they are before they come here … they’ve been surviving on the street.
“A lot of them have baggage. Maybe they don’t have any family around, or their family doesn’t want them to be around. Maybe they’ve had brushes with law enforcement, and they’ve got to deal with the legal system.”
“But these were once proud men,” Cox said. “Once they get here, we demand respect from them, so they can accept respect from us. Then, they begin to respect themselves, respect their bodies, again.”
Ted Wright came to Shepherd’s House with nothing more than the clothes he was wearing, Cox said, after making his way from Florida to Fort Wayne. He was admitted into Shepherd’s House a little more than a year ago and began the process of gaining seniority:
First, a resident lives in an eight-man berthing area with bunk beds. If he follows the rules, he gets to move into a four-person area. Then a two-person unit.
Now Wright lives in a one-bedroom suite. He has saved money he has earned by working at a part-time job, Cox said. He has clothes, books and magazines, a television, and even a set of golf clubs – which he used to great effect during a tournament the men had.
“A lot of these guys, they all have stories about times past, and you don’t know whether to believe them or not,” said Cox. “Ted always said he could play, but who really knows. But Ted … hey. He can play that game. He’s good.”
Posted with permission from News-Sentinel.com
A shepherd for veterans in need
Local site offers more than room and board
Written by: Deidre Dorsett of the Journal Gazette
As the granddaughter of a World War II and Korean War veteran and the daughter of a father who served two tours in Iraq, I have deep respect for those who serve.
American soldiers put their lives on the line to protect and guarantee our freedom. Sometimes, they pay the price of dealing with invisible wounds and the trauma they faced while in the war zone long after they return home. Many veterans seek out drugs and alcohol to avoid depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or thoughts of suicide, plus the continual nightmares that plague their minds. They use substances to numb the pain as they try to avoid the memories. Veterans with PTSD may feel hopelessness, shame or despair. As a result, many lose their jobs, homes and families, which can lead to helplessness.
So, who saves them from these hardships and offers them a bit of hope and second chances?
Here in Fort Wayne, there is a place called Shepherd’s House. This shelter is located on Tennessee Avenue right off Spy Run Avenue. Shepherd’s House is designed to assist male veterans who find themselves homeless and struggling with addictions. However, this isn’t just some simple housing that offers a free meal and bed at night. No, this program addresses all the needs that a veteran encounters as he returns home from deployment and struggles with reintegrating into society.
While many individuals volunteer at Shepherd’s House, there are also two social workers available to assist the veterans navigating through the system and help them in filing for benefits.
The majority of Shepherd’s House staff are veterans. Shepherd’s House offers regularly scheduled recovery meetings, Bible study groups and budgeting classes. Veterans work with social workers in creating individualized treatment plans then revisit their goals regularly during case management. The goal is for veterans to build a solid foundation of sobriety and regain their dignity within society.
The philosophy is veterans helping veterans. Shepherd’s House collaborates with the Veterans Administration. Veterans who have an honorable or general discharge from the military do not incur any charges for housing and are able to remain at Shepherd’s House up to two years. The unique aspect of this organization is that it isn’t a homeless shelter – it’s home to a multitude. Over the last six months the staff have really increased their outreach efforts – and with the help of the community. Announcements are being made over several radio stations and through social networking, and the New Haven mayor has included information about Shepherd’s House inside 5,000 household utility bills to get the word out to veterans in need that there is hope. Veterans in need are coming to Shepherd’s House from all over the United States.
This sounds like a great program, and in theory it is. Although Shepherd’s House has things to work on, many generous people step in to help when things need to be done; but some things happen so quickly. Currently, this facility can house 51 veterans. However, staffers would love to be able to do more and are seeking to expand so that they can have a full-size commercial kitchen as well as eating and meeting areas.
In the evenings PTSD meetings will take place, and afterward that same area will be used by the 21 veterans currently enrolled in college to study. The other thing they wish to do is to make this facility more accessible to those with disabilities.
While Shepherd’s House gets funding from the VA, many of the things they do, they do with limited funding and venture to find more ways to raise the necessary money.
This is a place that is doing things differently, but what they are doing is working and making them a model that other locations around Indiana as well as the nation are using to create programs for the veterans they have in their local area. There is not sufficient data about female veterans and needs of those veterans to plan effectively for an increase in their number as service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Further, without improved services, women – including those with children and those who have experienced military sexual trauma – remain at risk of homelessness and experiencing further abuse.
Shepherd’s House is hoping it will eventually be a part of a plan to help female veterans get the same sort of help. Currently, there are no facilities for women veterans that mirror this recovery program. On a positive note, women veterans have heard about this and seek help. They were guided to an area where they can get the assistance they need.
Shepherd’s House stands alongside veterans and becomes the voice that every service member fought for so any American could be heard.
Posted with permission from journalgazette.net
“We thrive on this ministry and on being able to see the hand of God and the goodness of this community on a daily basis”
Written By: Doug LeDuc of Business Weekly
Name: Barbara Cox
Title: Co-founder
Organization: Shepherd’s House
Location: 519 Tennessee Ave.
Founded: 1998
Serves: Up to 47 residents recovering from alcohol or drug addiction, mostly homeless military veterans
Website: shepherdshouse.org
How would you describe Shepherd’s House?
Shepherd’s House is like a giant home with a lot of structure for a multitude of people who find themselves feeling hopeless because they’re addicted to drugs or have alcohol problems; 99 percent of them are veterans.
We have an intake process and a lot of rules and a lot of surveillance cameras, and we have a beautiful facility for them to live in with one major hitch: They must stay sober.
We have social workers and a lot of recovery meetings and classes and we work in collaboration with the Veterans Affairs, WorkOne and veterans centers.
The minimum stay here is six months and the maximum is two years, or longer if they need it. Clients start out in an eight-man bedroom and if they do well they go into a four-man room, then a two-man room and then they’re on their own in the rooms on the second floor. It’s all incentive-based.
When they first move in, they have a mentor assigned to them to explain the programs and tell them what the rules of the facility are, and eventually they end up becoming mentors to others.
If you come across any homeless vets with drug addition or alcohol problems, just let them know they can come here and they don’t have to bring anything. We give them toiletries, a welcome kit, bedding, clothing and food.
They don’t have to do anything but come in and make a commitment to stay clean and sober and work a recovery program.
How did you and your husband grow Shepherd’s House into what it is today?
We started it and ran it for many years while we were running Cox Heating & Air Conditioning. My husband “retired” three years ago when he sold Cox after running it for 30 years, and now we’re both doing this full time.
We did not have any education or certifications for it when we started the shelter but my husband had served in the military and owned bars in the past, and we’ve used drugs in the past and this has been payback time for us.
We had gotten closer to the Lord and my husband came home one day and said the Lord wanted him to open a shelter. I wanted no part of it, but 18 months later the Lord put it in my heart to go with it, and now its like the vets staying there are our kids, even though they’re grown up.
My husband found an abandoned old convent on the southeast side of town and we rehabbed it and ran the shelter there for two years before relocating it to a place that was about 5,000 square feet bigger on Tennessee Avenue.
It’s a 14,000-square-foot building that had been a hospital that was converted into office space and occupied by a variety of businesses. We took down walls and created some bigger rooms for bedrooms and put in kitchens and a lot of bathrooms.
When we began, we could house 15 clients. Now we can house 41 in the bigger house, plus six more in the Spy Run house. The buildings have adjoining backyards.
We did the Spy Run house three years ago. It had been a church and someone took out the pews thinking they could turn it into a bar and it was one big, empty space. That lower-level room is now a massive exercise/weight room, kind of a wellness center.
Hundreds of businesses have given us what we needed during the last 14 years. Anything we asked for the Lord has blessed our ministry with.
What is ahead for the organization?
We don’t have a disabled-accessible kitchen, so we met with the architect and are ready to break ground where the garden is now to add on a disabled-accessible kitchen and a meeting and eating area.
As soon as we get something done there’s something else that God says we need, so it’s always a work in progress. My husband and I both know when it needs to grow, and we need to add something new like a clinical social worker or a life skills class.
What do you like about this work?
We thrive on this ministry and on being able to see the hand of God and the goodness of this community on a daily basis. Most of our supporters are veterans themselves who are giving back to veterans who have fallen on hard times.
Do any moments there stand out?
We had one veteran who, when he came in to us, I was told he would be the worst mental-health case we would ever be confronted with. He had a lot of conditions.
A stroke put him in the hospital while he was with us. Parkview Hospital told us he would be on life support and never be able to get off it. The VA hospital told us if he survived he would be a vegetable. While he was in rehab and going through therapy we were told he was completely delusional.
He was in hospitals for about four months and then he came back to us for awhile. Now he’s living by himself in Kokomo. He doesn’t need any help feeding himself or taking care of himself; he’s completely independent and very happy. He’s just like you and me.
What have you learned from your work?
You can have a thought but you don’t necessarily have to keep that thought. You can choose to take that thought out of your mind and replace it with something better. And the more you make the right choices, the more good will take over the bad in your life and you don’t have to go backward anymore.
It is just a matter of creating healthier habits for a healthier lifestyle. If you do it well enough long enough, it gives you a new life.
God can take people at ground zero who are hopeless and remold them and put them in the right path, and eventually they can walk out with their shoulders up and feeling good about themselves again. They can become active contributors to their community.
Posted with permission from Fort Wayne Business Weekly