After Hurricane Harvey, disabled veteran still homeless two years later

Disabled veteran finds little help 2 years after Hurricane Harvey

Victoria Advocate
By Elena Anita Watts
Aug 24, 2019

“It’s very uncomfortable with no kitchen and no fridge; I eat out all of the time, and I’m tired of it,” Ruiz said. “It’s stressful, and I have PTSD, which makes it worse.”

Rain poured down the old shingle walls of the Callis Street house owned by Jesus Ruiz Jr., 67, when Hurricane Harvey hit two years ago.

A green tarp is still stretched across the roof of Jesus Ruiz Jr.’s home in the Silver City neighborhood of Victoria. Ruiz, 67, was ineligible to receive aid after Hurricane Harvey because he is purchasing the home through owner finance. The Homeowner Assistance Program recently changed its assistance criteria to accept these types of ownership agreements. Ruiz will have to reapply, which will take four to six months. Evan Lewis | elewis@vicad.com

Harvey had blown into town with wind gusts that reached 83 miles per hour, and before they died down, they cracked and carried shards of glass and sheets of rain into Ruiz’s house.

Two years later, Ruiz, a disabled veteran, remains essentially homeless.

Ruiz, who lives alone in the house, evacuated before the storm hit and returned when the flooding subsided and the roads were passable again. He found numerous damaged trees in his yard, which he and friends immediately began clearing. Shingles were missing from his roof, windows were blown in and his walls were waterlogged. He has since torn out the cabinets, countertops and particle board flooring in his kitchen and has lived without a functional place to prepare a meal.

Ruiz served as a structural mechanic in the Marine Aircraft Wing from 1970 to 1974. He served in several countries and across the United States, but on April 14, 1974, he fell mysteriously ill. He spent about six months in a hospital in Japan where he ran a high fever and dropped down to 95 pounds. Bedridden, he was sent back to the United States on a stretcher with a service-connected disability.

Ruiz had worked for about seven months on aircraft used to spray Agent Orange during the war. His health improved enough that he was able to leave the hospital, but he has been sick ever since. And many of his symptoms have worsened with age. He suffers from fibromyalgia, insomnia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and he takes 14 medications a day.
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Disabled homeless veteran beaten by teens in Ohio

Teens attack two homeless men with bats, rocks outside Wooster church

FOX 8 Cleveland
BY JEN STEER AND SUZANNE STRATFORD
JULY 26, 2019

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

WOOSTER, Ohio-- The Wooster Police Department is working to identify three teens who attacked two men sleeping on the steps of a church.

Officers were called to Trinity Church on East North Street just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

The victims said three teens, between the ages of 14 and 15, threw rocks at them, then took turns hitting them with bats. The men suffered cuts and scrapes. One was taken to the Wooster Community Hospital Emergency Room.

The men were sound asleep on the steps to get out of the elements.

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

Pastor Kevan Franklin says, every morning the church serves a free hot breakfast, where they also connect those in need with the proper resources and community services.
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WWII Veteran was buried as "homeless" because donated body was cremated

Son of deceased veteran steps forward: Dad wasn't homeless

Newsday
By Martin C. Evans
July 19, 2019

The crematory received the remains from Stony Brook University School of Medicine, where Franklyn Lansner had donated his body for medical research, his son said. The family had expected the school to send the body to the crematory, he said.

Frank Lansner Sr., seated, is surrounded by family members at his home in Westbury. The photo was taken in 2017. Photo Credit: Lansner Family

The son of a World War II Navy radar technician whose remains were buried in a ceremony for homeless veterans wants Long Islanders to know that his father wasn't homeless and had a family who loved him.

Tom Lansner learned about his father's burial by reading a Newsday account of the ceremony, which was last Thursday at Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn.

The remains of Franklyn R. Lansner Sr., 94, and four other veterans were buried after a funeral presented by Missing In America Project, a national group that buries the unclaimed remains of veterans, and Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a cooperative effort of the Dignity Memorial funeral service providers, veterans groups and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Relatives of Air Force veteran Irving Beiser, 84, also have come forward to say he wasn't homeless.

Franklyn Lansner died of pancreatic cancer two years ago at his Westbury home, surrounded by his family, his son said.

Despite the confusion, Tom Lansner said he was pleased that his father was recognized for his military service: "I'm honored that he had a veteran's burial."

Tom Lansner said he thinks the mix-up with his father's remains may have happened because of a miscommunication between himself and the Nassau-Suffolk Crematory, a funeral home in Lake Ronkonkoma.
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Put Vets First shut down after putting veterans last on the to do list

Veterans' Charities, PAC Shut Doors Amid Fundraising Scrutiny

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
July 8, 2019

The PAC, for example, raised $4.8 million, with the telemarketers netting $4.4 million and Hampton receiving $183,500 in salary, according to the report.

Homeless veteran. Getty Images

A Virginia-based political action committee purportedly established to support veterans' issues was disbanded Saturday amid questions over its fundraising and expense practices.

The Put Vets First! PAC filed termination paperwork Saturday with the Federal Election Commission, according to a report Monday by the Center for Public Integrity. The PAC appears to have followed the same fundraising and expense patterns as two affiliated nonprofits, all established by a retired Army Reserve major. The organizations raised millions but donated little to veterans causes or candidates.

Founded by Brian Arthur Hampton, the organizations began pulling in cash around 2013, when Hampton hired telemarketing firms to conduct fundraising. Yet according to Internal Revenue Service tax filings, the groups gave little of those earnings to veterans' causes, instead paying most of the money back to the telemarketing firms and covering administrative costs, including salaries.
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Alabama veteran became homeless and got closer to God

Alabama’s homeless veterans: Army vet says struggle brought him ‘closer to God’

AL.com
By J.D. Crowe
July 7, 2019

“Being homeless is an isolated experience. A close relationship to God makes all the difference.”

“Is that what you want people to know about you?” I asked.

“It’s what I want people to know about the Lord.”

Homeless. Veteran. These two words don’t belong together. How could someone who is willing to die for their country wind up on the streets, kicked to the curb after their service?

How many homeless veterans are in Alabama? I want to draw them all – or as many as possible - and let them tell their stories.

According to an AL.com report in 2018 citing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development study, there were 339 homeless veterans in Alabama. Of those, 52 were in the Mobile area. So, it makes sense to start locally.

Those numbers are in flux, of course. Thanks to organizations like Housing First, since last July 151 homeless veterans in the Mobile and Eastern Shore area have been identified and transitioned into apartments.

To kick off this project, we talked with four of these Housing First veterans. We hope their stories will inspire more homeless and formerly homeless veterans to come forward with their stories. (See the video in the story below.)

In the meantime, I’m gonna be searching, listening, learning and sketching.
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Florida veteran survived Iraq, Fort Hood massacre and attempted suicide by cop

A Suicide-by-Cop Attempt Prompts a Plan to Use Marijuana to Save Veterans

Miami New Times
CARLOS MILLER
JUNE 14, 2019

“Seeing that one of my own service members, a major that I’m supposed to look up to, couldn’t handle his own PTSD and decided to shoot up a soldier-reprocessing site made me feel absolutely terrible," Ortiz says. “I had survivor’s guilt, and I still have survivor’s guilt.”

Having failed at a previous suicide attempt, South Florida Army veteran J.C. Ortiz was determined to succeed the second time.

It was 2009 and he had just returned from his second tour of Iraq, where he had experienced a grueling 15 months of continual combat. Four years earlier, after another 18 months of war, he'd begun suffering from PTSD. He would become addicted to opioids.

Now the plan was to lock himself with bottles of rum and pills in the bathroom of his home on the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Through the door, he would tell his wife he was going to take his own life, knowing she would call military police.

Florida is home to 17 percent of the nation’s homeless, according to the U.S. Census. And the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates veterans make up 11 percent of the nation's homeless population. Ortiz says there are 3,500 homeless veterans in South Florida.
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Little John's feeding great food with a mission in mind

New Madison Restaurant Tackles Food Waste, Feeds The Hungry And Employs Veterans

Wisconsin Public Radio
By Elizabeth Dohms
Published: Friday, May 3, 2019

Little John’s will use food beyond its sell-by date from grocery stores around Madison, particularly Metcalfe’s Market. Heide pointed out that food oftentimes is edible for a month or more after its sell-by date but is tossed anyway because of confusion with the expiration date.

Sprinkle in some ugly produce, employment opportunities for veterans and a touch of compassion, and that’s the recipe for chef and restaurateur Dave Heide’s new nonprofit restaurant, Little John’s, set to open in Madison this summer.

More than just nourishing the body, Heide hopes his restaurant on Madison’s west side will also feed his appetite for charity by meeting the needs of the hungry, curbing food waste and employing veterans.

Named for Heide’s third child, Little John’s is Heide’s third restaurant. Liliana’s in Fitchburg and Charlie’s on Main in Oregon are named for the couple’s other two children.

As a nonprofit, his newest venture features a pay-what-you-can model.

"If you have money, great. If you don’t have anything, don’t worry about it," he said, pointing out that the restaurant will have counter service, similar to a Chipotle or Subway. The menu will change daily depending on the food that’s available. Every day there will be seven or eight options such as salads, sandwiches and pastas to choose from.

Heide hopes that with any additional revenue he can take food carts to area food deserts to try and meet the needs of community members in those locations.

The restaurant’s payment model, with the goal of fighting hunger, is just one of the lofty issues Heide hopes to tackle. Another is food waste.
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Army Reservist went from homeless to homeowner in Las Vegas

Once homeless, Las Vegas veteran gets 1st taste of homeownership

Las Vegas Review Journal
Briana Erickson
April 26, 2019

Martinez, who starts studying social work at UNLV in the fall, said her next step will be to help other veterans who might be in the same situation she was in.

She had the key, and now it was time for one more thing. The brand-new American flag, still bright and shiny and creased from packaging.

Carrying it to the outside of her new home near downtown Las Vegas, Ana Martinez attempted to erect the flag on the tan house with white finish. But she didn’t have the necessary tools.

Laughing, the 52-year-old veteran used packing tape to secure the metal plate to the wall. As the flag came up, so did the tears. And when the tape didn’t stick, Martinez held onto the flag tightly.

“A lot of people don’t make it back. … They just don’t have an opportunity to live their life and continue giving,” the Army veteran said through her tears. “It’s just a little emotional for me.”

It was the first thing she did Friday morning as a first-time homeowner.

She was determined to put the flag up and to start up the stereo in her living room.

Only two years earlier, she had been homeless, living in her red two-door Mitsubishi Eclipse and working as a chief warrant officer with the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Sloan.
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Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans

Unclaimed, homeless veterans laid to rest

KVOA NBC 4 News
April 27, 2019

MARANA — Under bright blue skies, dozens gather at the Arizona Veterans Cemetery in Marana Saturday.

The Southern Arizona Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans complete with a ceremony of appreciation.

“It’s closure for them and it’s the promise of closure for us,” Ross Scanio, an Iraq veteran and spokesman for the Missing In America Project said. “It’s difficult to quantify the impact of being in combat and losing your fellow service members or just the carnage that is war.”

Servicemen folded American flags and presented them to veterans in attendance including Carl Randall.

Randall served in both Korea and Vietnam.

Last fall he and his wife lived in Paradise, California.

They lost their home and dozens of neighbors to the ferocious Camp Fire.
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Katelyn McClure, 29, pleaded guilty to theft by deception

New Jersey woman pleads guilty in 'feel good' GoFundMe scam with homeless vet

NBC News
By Tim Stelloh
April 16, 2019

Prosecutors have said that she and her then-boyfriend concocted a story about the man giving the couple his last $20 when they ran out of gas.

Kate McClure appears in court at Burlington County Superior Court in Mount Holly, N.J. on April 15, 2019.Joe Lamberti / Camden Courier-Post via AP, Pool

A New Jersey woman pleaded guilty Monday to helping swindle thousands of GoFundMe donors out of more than $400,000 with what authorities called a “fairy tale narrative.”

Katelyn McClure, 29, pleaded guilty to theft by deception and will serve a four-year term in state prison, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

McClure and D’Amico created a GoFundMe campaign that aimed to raise $10,000 to get Bobbitt off the streets.

The then-couple raked in $402,000 from 14,000 donors — a sum authorities say they quickly spent on gambling, a BMW and a trip to Las Vegas, among other things.
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Homeless 'good Samaritan' gets probation in GoFundMe scam
By: DAVID PORTER, Associated Press
Posted: Apr 12, 2019

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) - A homeless man was sentenced to five years' probation Friday after admitting last month that he conspired with a couple to scam the public out of $400,000 in donations by concocting a feel-good story about him helping a motorist in distress.

Johnny Bobbitt had pleaded guilty in state court to conspiracy to commit theft by deception. Conditions of his sentence include inpatient drug treatment and cooperation with prosecutors against his co-defendants. If he violates those conditions, he will be sentenced to five years in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 18 months.
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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is closing the Billets for homeless veterans? Seriously?

In gentrifying Echo Park, the VA is forcing these homeless veterans to leave

Los Angeles Times
By GALE HOLLAND
MAR 31, 2019

“I know it’s weird for a 51-year old Naval Academy graduate to say, but it’s a scary day. I understand there are veterans here, but I haven’t met any yet. I knew I had it good. Now I really know I had it good.” Jeff Petrie

Jeff Petrie, 51, is one of the last residents to move out of the Billets, a housing program in Echo Park for homeless veterans. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is closing the Billets for good. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

For six years, dozens of homeless veterans have recovered from trauma in nine cottages along a winding residential road in Echo Park. The Billets — military jargon for civilian quarters — has been a model.

The 72-bed program places as much as 70% of its chronically homeless veterans — male and female — in permanent housing, according to Volunteers of America, which operates the program. It’s based in a tranquil, leafy and gentrifying neighborhood of families and young professionals a short walk from a doughnut shop, a grocery store and multiple bus lines.

But on Monday, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is closing the Billets for good.

Volunteers of America officials said the VA gave no real reason for the decision, and Nikki T. Baker, department spokeswoman at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, declined a request to interview Director Ann Brown or another administrator.
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Celebs4Vets helping veterans hear welcome home

Celebrities Help Build Homes for Veterans in SCV with Homes 4 Families

PRESS RELEASE
MAR 18, 2019

Homes 4 Families hosted its third Celebs4Vets Build at the Veteran Enriched Neighborhood off Soledad Canyon Road in Santa Clarita on Saturday.

The Los Angeles-based nonprofit empowers low-income veterans and their families to enter the middle class by providing them with affordable housing and holistic services that build resiliency, self-sufficiency and economic growth.

More than 30 celebrities and other entertainment industry professionals picked up hammers and paint brushes and poured concrete to build homes, including stars from YouTube Red’s “Cobra Kai” and CBS’ “SEAL Team,” among many others.

Celebs4Vets is a membership-based group comprised of representatives of the entertainment industry who subscribe to the Homes 4 Families mission and lend their support by participating in H4F activities, events, and programs.

The Celebs4Vets Build provided members with the opportunity to help build some of the remaining 9 of 78 homes for low-income veterans and their families in Santa Clarita before H4F moves on to build another 56 veteran homes in Palmdale.

Celebrities each rolled up their sleeves to spend the day painting homes, doing finish carpentry, and pouring concrete driveways while also calling upon their fans to sponsor their efforts, raising money for their building supplies and materials.

“The Celebs4Vets members are truly making a difference in the lives of these low-income military families,” said Donna Deutchman, Homes 4 Families president and CEO. “Their passion for helping those that served our country is evident in every dollar they raise, every nail they hammer, and every wheelbarrow of concrete they mix.”

The participants included: John Ross Bowie (Speechless); “SEAL Team” cast members Toni Trucks and Judd Lormand; “Cobra Kai” cast members Tanner Buchanan, William Zabka, Mary Mouser, Xolo Mariduena and Jacob Bertrand; Johnathan Fernandez (“Lethal Weapon”); Phillip P. Keene (“Major Crimes); Noah Emmerich (“The Americans”); Drew Powell (“Gotham”); Tate Ellington (“The Brave”); Natacha Karam (“The Brave”); Edwin Hodge (“Mayans M.C.”); Reed Diamond (“The Purge”); Amy Paffrath (“Entertainment Tonight”); Drew Seeley (“Max and Wrigley”); Anna Konkle (“PEN15”); Sean Maguire (“Once Upon a Time”); Grace Kaufman (“Man with a Plan”); Bella Shepard (“A Girl Named Jo”); Reid Miller (“Play by Play”); Rod Man (“Last Comic Standing”); Al Coronel (“Bosch”); Matt Micucci (“Life is Boring”); and ‘Cobra Kai “writers Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz and Josh Heald.
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Vietnam veteran Neil Schaffer, lived on skid row, honored at City Hall

Vietnam Veteran Who Died in Skid Row Honored Outside City Hall

NBC 4 News
By City News Service
Published Mar 14, 2019

Neil Schaffer died of cancer last year in room at the Madison Hotel.

Friends of a homeless Vietnam veteran who died last year after living for decades in the Skid Row neighborhood organized a brief military memorial for him Thursday on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.

Vietnam Veteran Neil Schaffer was remembered at Los Angeles City Hall.

Neil Schaffer, whose friends said he fell through the cracks of society but lived a quiet, peaceful life, died of cancer last Aug. 19 in a room at the Madison Hotel.

Some Skid Row residents raised the funds for Schaffer's cremation, and the ceremony included the release of a dove.

Retired U.S. Air Force Chaplain Doc Cohen, who oversaw the ceremony, said Schaffer served in the military as a carpenter from 1971 to 1973 before being honorably discharged.

"And then it all went downhill. And he struggled. He tried, he got a job, he lost a job, whatever he could do, it wasn't enough, and he died on the streets right here in L.A.," Cohen said.

Another ceremony will be held at Los Angeles National Cemetery on March 31, Cohen said.

The Los Angeles National Cemetery has been closed to new interments of servicemen for decades, but Schaffer's ashes will among the first interred in a columbarium that is opening up there this summer, Cohen said.

Eriq Moreno was one of the friends of Schaffer who helped organize the City Hall service. Although he has a home and career now, Moreno said he met Schaffer about 17 years ago in Skid Row when he was homeless.

"He offered me shelter, and he became a really close friend and a father figure mostly, because I never had one," Moreno said. "When his situation with his health got worse, I knew I had to be there all the way, and I was, and he kind of left me in charge of his arrangements. He made a good change in the world and I just wanted someone to acknowledge that."
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GoFundMe Frauders plead guilty

Homeless man and the woman in viral good Samaritan story plead guilty to federal charges

CNN
By Janet DiGiacomo and Madison Park
March 6, 2019

(CNN)It was a feel-good story that got people to open their wallets and donate.

The premise of the story that went viral in 2017 was that New Jersey resident Kate McClure ran out of gas on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and a homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., gave her his last $20 while she was stranded. In return, McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Bobbitt, saying they wanted to pay it forward to the good Samaritan and get him off the streets. But the story wasn't true, authorities said, as McClure and Bobbitt pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges.

"In reality, McClure never ran out of gas and Bobbitt never spent his last $20 for her," according to a US Attorney's Office press release. "D'Amico and McClure allegedly conspired to create the false story to obtain money from donors."

McClure, 28, could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She will be sentenced on June 19.

Bobbitt, 36, could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He will be sentenced at a later date.
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Marine veteran inspiring fundraising for Gary Sinise Foundation

The Entrepreneur Who Died 3 Times, Became Homeless And Outran His Destiny

FORBES
Dan Murray-Serter
Contributor
Entrepreneurs
March 3, 2019

"So, what next?" I asked the ex-marine. "I will break the current Guinness’ Book of World Records for the 'fastest marathon completed while carrying a 100 pound pack' in less than 6 1.5 hours. To do so I need to complete 1,100 Miles with 100lbs on my back but aim to raise $1,000,000. Proceeds will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation later this year", he replies determinedly.

Giving Arnie A Run For His MoneyTSHANE JOHNSON

For most, the lowest point in your life would arguably be when you had a near fatal accident robbing you of your career, dreams and use of your legs. In TShane's case, when your life has had many flavors of lows, there's a wide array to pick from.

"There I was, freezing in 20 degree weather at a bus stop, homeless, and watching other homeless people fighting over a six pack of beer". That was the turning point for TShane Johnson, an entrepreneur who'd hit rock bottom.

After realizing he was only one or two decisions away from being in that exact spot - the only thing keeping him from it was the good fortune that he didn't drink.

A far cry from that bus stop, TShane now spends his time running across America raising money for veterans, sharing his inspiring story of determination to prove nothing is impossible.

A Marine With A Stolen Dream

Before he was an entrepreneur, TShane joined the Marine Corps in 1998. "It was my lifelong ambition to become a bodybuilder like Arnold Schwarzenegger" he tells me. So even as a Marine, he did regular personal training sessions and spent extra hours in the gym building up the specific physique required to compete. Given his lifestyle, he was in peak mental and physical shape when his whole life changed.
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He joined the military, then police force, and then homeless in the UK?

How DID this war hero police officer end up sleeping rough on the street?: Shocking story that shows why – one year on – the helpline we fought for is needed more than ever

Daily Mail
By IAN GALLAGHER FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
23 February 2019

Virtually penniless and unable to draw his pension, he slept rough last month, still with his warrant card in his back pocket. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, during which he repeatedly broke down, he spoke bitterly of abandonment, his belief that his Army and police careers had effectively been ‘for nothing’ and how his life had no horizons greater than finding his next hot meal.

Britain's first homeless policeman, 46, is a former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran
He decided to change careers after the Afghanistan War and joined the Met
The unnamed man was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2017
He has received no support while on indefinite sick leave from the police force

A Metropolitan Police officer, and veteran, has been sleeping rough in a Home Counties town

Having risked his life for his country at home and abroad for two decades, he might be forgiven for expecting recognition for exemplary service.

First he spent 12 years with the Royal Engineers, leading a specialist bomb disposal team on perilous missions in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tiring of Army life but determined to put his experience to good use, he then joined the Metropolitan Police, proving a brave and effective frontline officer.

Yet instead of laurels, this dedicated public servant has, ten years on, achieved an altogether different distinction. Like so many who put their lives on the line to keep others safe, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2017.

Emotionally adrift, his marriage failed – ‘I became impossible to live with’ – and then his life fell apart as his condition worsened.

Shamefully, the state averted its eyes. On sick leave ever since, he remains in theory a serving officer because the Met appears – inexplicably – to have forgotten him, or rather, in the words of the voluntary group fighting his case, allowed him to ‘fall through the cracks’.
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Ex-homeless Vietnam veteran Marine giving back

Formerly Homeless Veteran Gets Help, Now Gives Back

NBC Bay Area
By Garvin Thomas
Published Feb 19, 2019

One day, a Concord police officer checking on Bartell noticed the United States Marine Corp tattoo on Bartell's right arm. "He said, 'You're a veteran? You shouldn't be homeless,'" Bartell said. "I told him, 'Yeah, I've heard that before.'"

To witness 70-year-old Mike Bartell smiling, laughing, and caring for others while volunteering for the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, is to see a man who looks like he's had a lifetime of experience spreading joy.

Bartell, however, is quick to point out that if you were to ask anyone who knew him at an earlier age, they would tell a different tale.

"They wouldn't believe it," Bartell said. "That grumpy old person ... what happened to him?"

What happened is that Bartell discovered, very late in life, that it's never too late to turn one's life around.

"No, never," Bartell said. "I'm glad I didn't give up on myself and I'm glad other people didn't give up on me."

Both of those, it should be noted, were real possibilities for Bartell.

Bartell is someone who had suffered more than his fair share of indignities and trauma during his life. Bartell's father abandoned his family and his mother committed suicide when he was just six. After a childhood in and out of juvenile facilities and foster homes, Bartell joined the Marines and saw combat in Vietnam. Returning home, Bartell married a couple of times and had children but said he never conquered his ever-constant anger.
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Veteran works full time for Post Office...at 76 and fears becoming homeless?

‘I’m scared’: He is 76, a veteran and struggling to find an affordable apartment

The Washington Post
Theresa Vargas
February 16, 2019

Jeffrey Snure doesn’t want to end up homeless.

He told me this on a recent morning as we sat down to eat breakfast at a Latin American restaurant next to a 7-Eleven.

Jeffrey Snure, a 76-year-old veteran, works full time for the U.S. Postal Service. He fears he will soon become homeless. (The Washington Post)

“Am I scared?” he said. “Better believe I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know how to keep it from happening.”

Lately, he has paid more attention to a man who walks through his Northern Virginia neighborhood who appears as if he’s barely avoiding life on the street.

“Every time I see him, I get very nervous,” Snure said. “I don’t want that to happen to me.”

Snure is a 76-year-old veteran. He also works full time for the U.S. Postal Service. He shouldn’t be worried about sleeping on a sidewalk. And yet, in recent weeks, as he faces eviction from the apartment where he has lived for more than two decades, Snure has found himself feeling increasingly frustrated, lost and, yes, even scared, as he searches for a rarity in the region: an affordable place to live.

He said he has worked for the Postal Service for more than two decades, and he spends six days a week fixing mail-sorting machines as an electronic technician. For that, he said he earns about $66,000 a year.
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Homeless veteran froze to death at the age of 39

'Another fallen soldier': Tulsa wonders why a homeless vet died the way he did

Tulsa World
By Michael Overall
January 26, 2019

Holder spent two nights last week in a downtown homeless shelter, Haltom said. But he didn’t return last Saturday as overnight temperatures sank into the teens. Firefighters recovered his body the next morning outside the Daily Grill restaurant at the Hyatt Regency, where the 39-year-old veteran apparently froze to death on the patio.

He hadn’t been around for a while, long enough that people couldn’t remember the last time they had seen him. Several weeks, at least. Maybe months.

Then Zaki Holder showed up again last week, coming off the streets to get warm inside the Day Center for the Homeless in the northwest corner of downtown Tulsa.

The staff wondered where he had been but didn’t pry. Chronic homelessness doesn’t hit people in one long burst. It comes and goes and comes again.

Nobody was surprised to see Holder again.

“He was a familiar face,” said Mack Haltom, the Day Center’s associate director. “He was quiet. Stayed to himself. Never caused a problem.”

It was the second memorial service of the day for the Patriot Guard, Smith said. The first had been for a veteran who “joined the 22-a-Day Club” by committing suicide, he said. And as far as the Patriot Guard members were concerned, Holder was “another fallen soldier,” too, Smith said.
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Virginia Navy Veteran needs help after house fire

Henrico veteran – living in tent – needs your help fixing his fire damaged home

WTVR 6 News
BY SHELBY BROWN
JANUARY 23, 2019

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Fifty-six years ago Walter Flanagan was 17 years old and eager to start his stint in the U.S. Navy. The 73-year-old Henrico man has many stories to tell of his days in the military and working in the fishing industry.

He’s not nearly as comfortable talking about his current situation.

“Every morning I would get up and look at this mess and say oh, what’s going to happen?” Flanagan explained.

In mid-December, fire damaged his West End home.

Flanagan said the house used fuses.

Financial challenges kept him from being able to upgrade the electrical system. Because of that, the insurance company would not cover the home.
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