Shelter helps veterans regain lives

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By Diane Strand Bill enlisted in the Marine Corps and became a helicopter mechanic. He later married another Marine and they have one child who is now 7. But after he was discharged, he followed his wife to a small town in Texas where the only job he could find was in roofing for his father-in-law's company. It felt wrong, so Bill left Texas to get work elsewhere. Along the way, the couple divorced and Bill gained custody of his son, though his mom has guardianship. Alcohol has been short-circuiting his goals.. A tall handsome guy, Bill is now living at the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans, in Wheaton, trying to get it all together. The shelter opened Jan. 8 of this year. Looking back, he said, &#8220I went to the boonies in Texas. As a helicopter mechanic I thought I would have a good chance, for example, as an aviation technician. I applied to all the major airlines,” without success. Bill said his son &#8220gives me strength to work toward my goals and to build a family.” The shelter is nestled in a comfortable older home in residential Wheaton, founded by two vets who thought the words &#8220soldier” and &#8220homeless” shouldn't occur in the same sentence. Co-founder Bob Adams is a social worker, and the other half of the equation, Dirk Enger, an ironworker. They both were combat vets-Adams in a hospital unit in Vietnam in 1968, and Enger in a Marine Corps. elite unit in Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1991. Adams said ignoring vets in trouble is inconsistent with &#8220our military training and the values they gave us-you don't leave anyone behind.” Marvin's story was longer; he enlisted in the army during the Vietnam War &#8220I never went into battle, but I did go the DMZ. I was a tank driver and gunner and later became a supply clerk.” When he came home to Oklahoma, he took a civil service job, was married for 11 years, and had two kids, then was divorced. A second marriage produced three more children but also ended in divorce. &#8220But I have five beautiful kids,” Marvin said. Substance abuse has also been an albatross around Marvin's neck. There is zero tolerance at the shelter.The guy who uses loses. Adams said a tough policy is the only way to run a homeless shelter; otherwise, everything spins out of control. The difficulties these men face probably won't be as tough as many other soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq, Adams said. Soldiers are coming home having lost several limbs. In other wars, &#8220They wouldn't have survived. Tammy Duckworth wouldn't have survived,” he said referring to the officer who lost one leg and part of another in a helicopter assault. She now heads Veterans' Affairs in Illinois. Adams described the extent of the problem, &#8220On any given night, there are 20,000 homeless veterans in Illinois, 18,000 of them in the Chicago metropolitan area. Illinois has the fourth largest number in the country.” Their little shelter is the only one for vets in DuPage County, yet DuPage is the third wealthiest county in the country, they said. Midwest Shelter has received a grant from HUD which paid half the purchase price of the Wheaton home and the rest is mortgaged. The shelter also has a per diem grant from the VA. Adams and Enger are strictly volunteers. The neighborhood has been supportive of the shelter which flies a U.S. flag and a POW/MIA flag out front. The church across the street, Trinity Episcopal, has been a major benefactor, Enger said, and other churches have helped, including St. John's Catholic in Winfield. The city council and mayor also have been receptive. &#8220We did a survey and a couple of open houses for our neighbors,” Adams said. &#8220People wanted to know what we were doing.” A board of directors with members from the business community also provides strong support. The shelter now houses five vets, but they are planning an expansion to house 10 more. Adams and Enger help vets with job searches and retraining, as well as obtaining driver's licenses. &#8220The park district hired two of our residents,” Enger said proudly. The average stay for a veteran is four to nine months, Adams said. Medical care is provided by Hines Hospital in Maywood, as well as psychological services for issues of substance abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a social worker, Adams provides counseling and also has a small private practice in Lombard. Vets with substance abuse problems are required to participate in a 12-step program. &#8220The church across the street has AA meetings seven days a week,” Enger said. PTSD is a major problem, the co-founders warn, and the armed services should be screening for it. &#8220We imagine there will be a real avalanche of cases from Afghanistan and Iraq and help will be needed over time,” Enger said. Transportation in suburbia is a challenge, so the shelter was able to purchase a van through the VA, which is available to take residents to jobs or other appointments. Residents do most of their own cooking and attendance at the evening meal is required. Both the public and the military fail to calculate the long-term costs of war,” Adams said, &#8220high crime rates, high divorce rates, substance abuse, violence, especially domestic violence-and the loss of useful, productive lives.”

Upcoming talk Enger will speak about the shelter at 7 p.m. Thursday at the First Congregational Church, 615 N. First St. in DeKalb. The event is sponsored by the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice and the NIU Black Student Union.