Help A Homeless Veteran to Help Others

As an ordained minister and missionary, along with my regular church duties, I had also been doing ministry at my family home for many years. It was the catalyst for many home groups in the area as well as raise-up other individuals to start their own ministries and encourage other Pastors and ministry leaders to do more in the way of outreach and service in their own communities until 2020 and the outbreak of Covid 19.

In 2019 my wonderful Mom, who I had been taking care of since 1999, had a stroke on the 25th of December and was also diagnosed with brain cancer. I took care of her, here at our home, until she passed away on March 20, 2020, a week before her 90th Birthday. It was so sudden. I was in shock and I became very depressed. The very next year I lost my cherished cousin and two of my cherished ministry assistants due to Covid19. I was still so devastated from the loss of my Mom. I was in this mental fog and really not dealing with things very well. The donations just stopped coming in during that two year period of the Covid pandemic and it became extremely difficult to cover basic ministry expenses. I became mentally and physically challenged as well as severely depressed. With the loss of donations to keep the ministry going, the inability to obtain legal help because the house had gone into probate and other much needed help due to the high costs and unavailability of these services, I lost our family home in 2024. I was now homeless.

Now, in 2025 at the age of 71, I find myself dealing with RP, Retinitis Pigmetosa, a hereditary eye disease which could eventually render me totally blind and I already walk with a red / white sweeping cane to navigate obstacles. As well, I am having to deal with a disintegrating spine, called Disk Degenerative Disease and somewhere along the way, I contracted asthma. I am currently in something called Transitional Housing after being homeless for almost a year. Although I now have a roof over my head and can once again take a warm shower, the kitchen is extremely small and inadequate to actually prepare any meals so I am having to spend money, when I have it, on prepared food which is expensive and as a result, my health is suffering do to my bad eating habits. As I discovered, the lack of resources to help us homeless Veterans is incredibly bad despite the efforts of city, state and federal agencies to get us off the streets and into suitable housing. Waiting lists are long and the VA and county social workers ALL told me it can even take YEARS. The current system for dealing with this terrible disaster is BROKEN and OVERWHELMED. I found that many of the state and federal agencies, even non profit organizations, have all dropped the ball and any help you need often takes weeks and months only after completing a mountain of paperwork not even knowing if you will qualify or be approved for help. MANY of these organizations never even answered the phone or returned any of my messages for help ! CalFresh is the worst !

I do receive $1500, monthly, from social security, but it is just not enough to cover food, $600 monthly rent for this transitional housing apt. and $100 for cell phone. The biggest problem I have is that ALL of my personal things, furniture and appliances, etc... are in storage at $700 a month ! This money could be used for rent, but in my current situation, I cannot save enough for a deposit for, first / last months rent, moving truck and other expenses to secure an apartment. If I can secure the funds I need to get my own place, I can eliminate the $700 storage fee and use that for rent.

I have given most of my adult life to ministry and helped so many others in the past, often times, utilizing my own money. Our current system to help those in need, to secure the above services, is antiquated, overwhelmed and broken ! I think American citizens deserve better, especially our Veterans who have already given so much to our country. People deserve better and I would like, once again, do my part to help others that have been placed in a similar situation and/or just do the work I was called to do ….. to help others. …….. Thank You and God Bless !