Photo By Sgt. Laura Bonano | A group of individuals participated in a Safe Haven Advisory Committee meeting on Dec....... read more read more
FORT WAYNE, Indiana - A group of individuals participated in a Safe Haven Advisory Committee meeting on Dec. 10, to discuss a new program being implemented in part by Volunteers of America and Veteran’s Affairs in Fort Wayne, Ind. to help house homeless veterans.
Different community leaders and residents of the area met to talk about the newly bought property on Fairfield Ave., which will be called Safe Haven.
Shannon Schumacher, the chief operating officer with Volunteers of America, headed up the meeting. She stated the reason for the gathering was to engage the neighborhood and community in the programming Volunteers of America is doing, to make sure there is a forum for voices in the area to be heard in order to better serve the veterans they are helping.
"A lot of other programs already existing for homeless veterans require participants to have jobs first before they can get into a housing program, or they must be completely clean and sober before they can get housing," said Schumacher
With Safe Haven, veterans receive housing first, and then receive other support and counseling to help them deal with the issues that led to them becoming homeless in the first place.
Naomi Nicastro, the VA homeless Coordinator in Fort Wayne, said she had never seen the VA put as much energy into ending homelessness as she has with these recent efforts. Nicastro also wrote the grant to Volunteers of America, which brought the project to Fort Wayne. Veterans will live in the facility for up to six months, which will lead to permanent housing.
The staff will consist of a VA case manager, a social worker as well as other staff members with strong clinical skills. The facility will have someone watching over the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s very important to keep them safe,” said Schumacher. “There will be a large camera system throughout the building.”
The next and ongoing step is to find veterans in need of housing, said Nicastro.
“We need to now find those who will come to the shelter, how do we reach younger vets,” said Nicastro. “We use Facebook, go to the rescue mission and draw from there.”
The facility is scheduled to open at the end of January and will be able to house up to 25 veterans, including women.
“One of the important things here, is we have the opportunity to help female veterans, which is a growing population across the country,” said Schumacher. “We want to make sure that we start to build programs that meet female veteran’s specific needs.” Schumacher said in the past veterans were usually thought of as mostly men, but things are changing.
After the meeting, the group took a tour of the building. Schumacher said there still is a lot of work to do, like building showers and removing things left behind by the previous owners out of the building.
Home Depot will help make the small overhaul possible by donating building supplies to the facility.
Volunteers of America will only have about 120 days from the purchase of the property to the opening of the facility to clients, but with work, and the dedication of those involved, Veterans will come one step closer to finding a permanent solution to challenges faced by them, for starters, a place to call home.
| Date Taken: | 12.10.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2014 23:21 |
| Story ID: | 119292 |
| Location: | FORT WAYNE, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 225 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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