My name is Michael and I am a U.S. Army veteran. When I think about Volunteers of America, and my time at the Domiciliary, I think about how much I have changed. I also think about how much I have learned too.
Let me back up for a minute.
In late 2015, I lost my cab. After I lost my cab, I lost my home.
I remember while living in my sister’s basement, my mom and dad came for what seemed an innocent visit. We sat at the kitchen table. My mom put several thousand dollars on the table and asked if that would buy enough drugs for me to kill myself.
He loved the service. “With the good came some bad,” he said. And what was bad for him changed his life forever. “It’s personal, and not something that I want to share. I was humiliated and even today I can’t talk about it.” Lawrence experienced a moment of extreme abuse in the military, and that’s all he’s willing to explain.
Tanya – a U.S. Army Veteran – vividly remembers the chilly day in May 2019 with her daughter, Makayla. Tanya was a proud mom. Makayla became a high school graduate that morning. They were homeless. A day that should’ve been one of the happiest in Tanya’s life was clouded with worry.
For James, an Army Veteran, he has always found purpose through his work, first as a member of the United States Army then as an IT professional. That was until a stroke forced James to look at the world through a different lens.
As a child, Derrel had to grow up fast. He was the middle of three sons in a single-parent household but bore much of the responsibility for the family because his older brother was severely disabled. He was charged with being the primary caregiver much of the time while his mother worked to provide for the boys.
Teresa was stable for her whole life, until she wasn’t. She was happily married and both she and her husband worked, having no trouble paying the rent. But then, her husband of twenty-nine years was diagnosed with cancer and things started to quickly spiral out of control. The prognosis was not good.
Philip was a young father. At 22, he and his girlfriend had a son. They hadn’t been together long and the stress of having a child was a major strain on their relationship. Although they parted ways soon after the child was born, Philip was determined to be a part of his son’s life.
I am the youngest of 5 boys. I grew up in a small town in Ohio, about 5,000 people small. When you grow up in a small town, there isn’t much to do. Everyone drank for fun, so I did. I started when I was 14. I was good at drinking and the life of the party. By 17, I was a full-blown alcoholic and dabbling in drugs.
As the second oldest in her family, Maria has always taken on the role of caregiver. She never shied away from hard work. Her life hasn’t been without its hardships. Throughout her childhood, her mother battled a substance use disorder. At the age of 12, Maria was put into foster care, where she remained until she aged out at 18.