County helps veterans avoid homelessness
By Jeremy Grossman
(Note: Originally published in the August 7, 2014 issue of Greater Media Newspapers)
A few years ago, New Brunswick resident Mary went through what she considered to be the most challenging period of her life.
After being laid off from her job in 2009, Mary didn’t know where her life was headed — how she would pay rent, how she would find a new job or even how she was going to eat. With two young sons to take care of, Mary lived in fear that her family might end up without a roof above their heads.
“It was a period of very bad luck … and it was very shocking that I couldn’t find [work],” said Mary, who earned a bachelor’s degree in public health at Rutgers University.
“Usually, I was able to find employment or to support myself, but it became a challenge when I wasn’t able to. It was very frustrating.”
Mary, who served in the New Jersey Army National Guard as a dental hygienist and attained the rank of specialist, found herself ineligible for several Army benefits.
With disappointment after disappointment, Mary began to question whether she even really served in the Army at all.
When the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development referred Mary to the Veterans Housing Assistance Program (VHAP), a program within the Middlesex County Office of Veterans Services, Mary finally began to feel that she was being treated as a human being, rather than as someone who was begging for help.
Coordinators from the program personally assisted Mary with her needs — doing everything from driving her to job fairs to providing her with nutritional information in order to stay healthy. Most importantly, the VHAP networked for her, speaking with various organizations on her behalf so that she would receive the support that she was being denied.
Mary is just one of 69 individual veterans and 121 family members who have been helped by the VHAP, which was formed almost two years ago to help veterans and their families in Middlesex County with housing assistance, employment and follow-up case management.
Last month, the program — the only one of its kind in the state — received the 2014 Meritorious Service Award from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, based in Washington, D.C.
“To be honest, I don’t think a veteran’s going to want to come looking for help, but when they need help, we should be there for them,” Middlesex County Freeholder Ronald G. Rios said.
After applying to one of the many jobs she became aware of through VHAP, Mary finally was hired. Currently, she works as a patient education counselor, helping people enroll in health insurance plans. And though Mary was never homeless, the VHAP saved her from that possibility.
“I don’t think they’ll ever know how much they affected me. … I was very negative, I was very depressed,” Mary said. “And I’m not a depressed person; I like to be positive. But I was at a very bad place.”
As bad as her situation was, Mary said she met veterans who had it even worse, such as those who were held back by post-traumatic stress disorders.
“We should not feel sorry for other people,” Mary said. “We should help them keep their integrity and their self-respect intact. I think that when we join the Army, it’s because we want to give. But many of the people who go to war find themselves in the position where they have to be the receivers, and that can be very frustrating for some people.”
Mary said she admires people and organizations that dedicate their time to others, such as the VHAP.
“I have seen people who don’t even want to put in the effort, and then that makes you think, ‘Hmm, maybe the world is going really wrong,’ ” Mary said. “But then you see these people. They don’t even look at what is going wrong. They just look at what could go right.”
For more information on the VHAP, call 732–745–4051.