As a retired military chaplain and the military liaison for Guideposts, I have the honor and privilege of visiting far-flung military camps, posts, and stations. As I travel across the US, I almost always catch a glimpse of down-and-out folks at nearby intersections with tattered cardboard signs that read, \u201cHomeless veteran. I need help. God bless.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego has a moderate climate that\u2019s similar to the Mediterranean, and a large number of people live on the streets. It also has a reputation for being military-friendly. Whether walking downtown on Harbor Drive near the Embarcadero, passing by the homeless encampments in Old Town Park by historic Fort Stockton, or taking the on-ramp to Interstate 5 from Pershing Drive near the San Diego Naval Medical Center (where clusters of flimsy pop-up tents sit), it\u2019s easy to spot fellow citizens, many who are veterans, living in hard times.<\/p>\n
Each summer, San Diego is also home to a three-day event called Stand Down, which has become a model for veterans\u2019 homeless programs across the country. Stand Down started in 1988, but I discovered it in 2014 while visiting the Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD), a residential facility designed to empower displaced veterans as they return to society. Chaplain Darcy Lovgren Pavich, chaplain of VVSD and director of Stand Down, is the strong, wise, and compassionate point person for the brigade-sized community of heroes who make Stand Down possible.<\/p>\n
Enjoy more remarkable true stories of heroes who answered the call. Get your copy of Guideposts New Free eBook, THEY SAID YES!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n Stand Down engages thirty-five hundred volunteers and one hundred fifty federal, state, and nonprofit agencies that annually aid and assist between eight hundred and one thousand homeless or nearly homeless veterans and their families. During the three-day Stand Down event, San Diego High School\u2019s upper athletic field is transformed into a military-style base made up of over fifty tents erected by Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton, Miramar, along with a host of other volunteers.<\/p>\n The Stand Down program offers what Chaplain Darcy calls, \u201cA hand-up and not a handout.\u201d Booths, clinics, and gathering spaces are staffed by providers who offer everything from meals, clothing, showers, laundry, housing solutions, education, job training, medical support, and legal services.<\/p>\n \u201cOur three-day Stand Down event is based on the idea that veterans have answers and the community has answers, and we\u2019re going to bring them all together in one place and help homeless veterans find the answers they need,\u201d Chaplain Darcy says.<\/p>\n Stand Down begins on a Friday morning. Homeless veterans and those in need start to line up outside the San Diego High School athletic field-turned-military-tent-city for days, and sometimes even a whole week, in advance.<\/p>\n When the gate opens, Chaplain Darcy explains, \u201cSomeone will greet the veteran, welcome them to their home for the next three days, and say, \u2018Hey, you need something to eat? We have some sandwiches, some breakfast, juice or coffee. Let\u2019s get you situated, and then we\u2019ll get you signed in.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Veterans are then assigned to a tent. These platoon-sized tents house nearly thirty veterans each and are named using the military spelling system; for example, Tent Alpha, Tent Bravo, Tent Charlie, and so on. Tent leaders assign each veteran to a cot and then ask, \u201cWhat do you really need today?\u201d The leader then makes a list and helps find the things they need. Some of the homeless say, \u201cI need a shower and I need sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf that\u2019s what they need today, that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to let them do. They determine their path,\u201d Chaplain Darcy says. \u201cPractically anything a veteran needs\u2014a haircut, a dentist appointment, a pair of eyeglasses\u2014is offered. Even more, Stand Down provides legal representation. Homeless and family courts come on site to deal with warrants, fines for loitering, and other barriers that prevent folks from getting a job. Family court works with families on child support and associated fees. The Department of Motor Vehicles helps reinstate a veteran\u2019s driver\u2019s license. Social Security and the Legal Aid Society are on hand. We have the entire gamut of services.\u201d<\/p>\n The veterans choose their own squad leaders, and in a supportive environment, they are encouraged to once again make key decisions about their lives and futures. Empowerment is encouraged. VVSD Chief Executive Officer and President Kim Mitchell says, \u201cThe three-day Stand Down intervention is an absolutely fabulous thing and is about getting veterans back on their feet for the long haul\u2014restoring the hope and pride that we know is in all of our veterans. Success stories are exactly why we exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Chaplain Darcy, an ordained pastor in the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and a member of RCA\u2019s Chaplain\u2019s Group, has led the charge to create an atmosphere in which success stories are possible. She has a subtle, yet powerful approach to ministry. \u201cMost of the veterans I serve have been wounded by life long before they were wounded by war. The church, to them, if they had any experience with it, has rules they\u2019ve already broken too many times to be deemed worthy of admission. They may sit outside the door of the church and beg for money, but they feel like damaged goods, unworthy to go inside. Others have been abandoned by misguided representations or promises of religion.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of them don\u2019t know me as a chaplain. They know me as Darcy. As Darcy, they allow me the privilege of knowing them\u2014their hopes and dreams and tragedies. Our goal is to feed, shelter, clothe, visit with them, and let the Spirit do the rest. When my fellow veterans at Stand Down are safe and bathed, clothed and fed, they begin to be able to see what their lives can be. And miracles occur.\u201d<\/p>\n Miracles take place in the veteran participants\u2014citizens of the street who experience a renewed sense of pride and identity, enabling them to once again walk tall, as they did when they were in the military.<\/p>\n The miraculous is evidenced in people such as Charles, a post 9\/11 combat veteran who\u2019s courageously adjusting to life outside the Marines without a checklist and structure. Or Bill, a former medic who refuses to allow the soldier inside to surrender, even as he deals with difficult medical issues. Couples such as Marguerite and Chris, who steadfastly face each new day as they get back on their feet after the ups and downs of deployed life in the Army.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the veteran who\u2019s been a Stand Down regular for years. Darcy says, \u201cI have known this veteran for seventeen years. For seventeen years he\u2019s been at Stand Down and homeless . . . pretty much a mess. Outspoken, out of control. For seventeen years our tent-leader coordinators, myself, and anybody who knew him was saying to him, \u2018Please, do something different this time. Get your life together, get clean, get sober and do something else.\u2019 After seventeen years he finally decided to do just that.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo years ago he entered our Veterans Village of San Diego program. Within six months we watched him change\u2014the haircut, the healthy food, dressing up, standing up, and being proud of himself.<\/p>\n He started working. And his wife got into treatment programs somewhere else. And when he checked out of here, he had a job and a place to live. And I\u2019ve seen him come back for alumni meetings, and it\u2019s been almost two years.\u201d<\/p>\n Another group of champions in the Stand Down galaxy are the volunteer providers. They\u2019re individuals from organizations like the Allied Gardens Optimist Club, who are Friday morning greeters, and the District One Veterans of Foreign Wars, who serve lunch. Volunteers from DLA Piper, one of the largest law firms in the world, cook up a healthy dinner. And Sodexo Food Services lays out a chicken cordon bleu feast with all the trimmings.<\/p>\n Enjoy more remarkable true stories of heroes who answered the call. Get your copy of Guideposts New Free eBook, THEY SAID YES!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the U.S. for Warriors Foundation (USWF), an organization that was formed by three former Navy submariners sitting in a bar. On a napkin they wrote down their plan to create an organization that would help active military veterans and their families who \u201cfell through the cracks\u201d of existing programs. USWF\u2019s battalion of trained volunteers dress in distinctive baseball caps and T-shirts, and work security for gates, bag checks, and the general well-being of all Stand Down participants.<\/p>\n Over thirty-two years ago, the Veterans Village of San Diego founded the Stand Down program, but the mayor\u2019s office and the police were initially opposed to it. Darcy recalls that they said, \u201c \u2018There will be riots. It will be terrible. Out-of-control chaos.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut that was just fear and people still ask me about riots and problems. And I say, \u2018Welcome to Stand Down, the safest place on the planet.\u2019 I\u2019m surrounded by people who have served their country. Where else could I be safer? If you\u2019ve served in the military, you\u2019re a part of a family that only one percent of society belongs to. They\u2019re not gonna hurt anybody. The people they\u2019re going to stand up for and stand beside are the people who stood beside them. We\u2019ve all worn the uniform together.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Diego now? Stand Down is the poster child! Anytime the mayor\u2019s office talks about homelessness in San Diego, they show pictures of Stand Down. If it\u2019s the media [saying,] \u2018Oh we need something on homelessness,\u2019 they pull up a picture of Stand Down.\u201d<\/p>\n Connecting with a community and creating a network of support where veterans are helping veterans becomes the goal, Chaplain Darcy says. \u201cOur motto is \u2018Leave no one behind.\u2019 At Stand Down, the line between volunteer and veterans goes away. It\u2019s people helping people.\u201d<\/p>\n The next time I am in a busy stoplight intersection and see a ragged \u201cHungry, please help\u201d sign, I\u2019ll swiftly pull to the side (traffic allowing), lower the window, and say a quick but explicit \u201cWe\u2019re all God\u2019s children; we\u2019re all in need of help.\u201d Then I\u2019ll hand out a ten-dollar McDonald\u2019s gift card.<\/p>\n But I\u2019ll also thank the Lord for the \u201chand-up\u201d that Chaplain Darcy and all of the heroes\u2014veterans and volunteers alike\u2014provides. A community of heroes in action, they expect miracles to happen.<\/p>\n Enjoy more remarkable true stories of heroes who answered the call. Get your copy of Guideposts New Free eBook, THEY SAID YES!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n