“I come from a family of veterans, but it’s my brother’s journey that truly lit the fire in my soul. He served eight years in the Army. He was willing to sacrifice everything for what he believed in. But when he got out, he was damaged.

“He saw so much, and he never wanted to talk about it. I would catch him rocking himself to sleep at night. Then one day, he just up and left. I’d get in my car and ride all night looking for him, and I’d always find him under a bridge with homeless veterans he’d met. This went on every day. He’d leave, I’d bring him home, clean him up, feed him, but he’d go right back out there.

“I fought tooth and nail with the VA to get him help, get him benefits. I don’t know, I think they’re just overwhelmed with so many veterans needing assistance. But these people fought for us. They sacrificed so much, including their mental health in a lot of cases. When they come home, they should have something to come home to.

“Lioness Touch is my answer to this urgent need. It’s a nonprofit committed to restoring dignity, and providing housing and hope for homeless and elderly veterans, as well as displaced veterans who lack identification and need a safe place to rebuild their lives. We’re still in the development phase. But we’re working hard to establish transitional homes where veterans can heal and rebuild. We want to launch job-creation and empowerment programs that honor every individual’s gifts. And we want to build a network of community outreach and holistic care that meets people where they are, providing support and care tailored to their needs.

“Our slogan is: You fought for us. Now let us fight for you. Everyone deserves a chance to start again, with love, not judgment. We’re not trying to give a handout. We’re trying to give a hand up.”

— Danquole “Shaun” Robinson

For more information on Lioness Touch, check the website.

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“My daughter is a water baby. Always has been. She was part of the Sea Scouts group here in town for four years. She got certified in scuba when she was 14. She learned how to sail small boats and big boats. Her uncle has a place in Martha’s Vineyard. When they spend time up there in the summer, they sail and stuff.

“I wasn’t surprised when she decided to join the Navy. She wanted to do something where she could make a difference and also get help with school so she wouldn’t end up having debt.

“We have tons of military in our family. One brother retired after 26 1/2 years in the Army. My sister served six years in the Air Force. My other brother spent 11 years in the Army Reserve. My brother-in-law retired from the Air Force after 20 years. I had cousins in various branches. I have an uncle who was wounded in the Korean War and is paraplegic from his injury. All the uncles on my dad’s side served in every branch there is. My dad couldn’t serve because he had a disc missing in his back, but he wanted to. My niece’s husband is in the Marines. And my third son was in the Army Reserve, but he’s out now.

“So serving in the military was always on the table for my daughter. It always was talked about and was an option. Besides my sister, though, it wasn’t something that women in our family did. It was just boys who went. But I’m glad she has the mindset that she can do whatever she wants, whether it’s something females traditionally would do or not. I’m really glad she’s like that.

“I had considered it at one point. But my path was really different from hers, and it just didn’t happen. In hindsight, I kind of wish I would have. I think it would have been good for me.”

— Lara Capson

Lara is a process technology instructor at Lee College. Her daughter, Eileen McCafferty, is serving a six-year commitment in the Navy.

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Spa day with Layla, a Boxer-Bullmastiff mix.

“I got her in Fort Hood, Texas, at one of the local shelters right outside the base. 

“I had just returned from my second tour in Iraq and was getting out of the Army. We just kind of got attached to each other. 

“She ended up being my little road trip partner for a while. I spent six months or so driving around the country, just me and her.”

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“I probably got my love for writing from my mom. She’s a retired English teacher. I’ve always wanted to write. I remember writing plays when I was young, and having my sister and brothers act in them. In elementary school I won a writing contest for a story about a troll trying to eat a Thanksgiving turkey. The winner was supposed to read the story on the local radio station. But me and my friend were the last two people in the class to get chicken pox, and I wasn’t able to do it. So my mom bundled me up, put me in the car, and turned on the radio so we could listen to my teacher read my story. 

“As I got older, my mom and grandmother bought me journals, and I would fill those with all kinds of stories and poetry. When I write poetry, it’s often about things that I’ve experienced or observed out in the world. Like one time, I met this homeless veteran who lived underneath the freeway. He told me how he had lost both his daughters in one day. They were killed by a driver. His oldest daughter was 21, and she died on her birthday. The other child was 16. He had a tattoo of two gravestones on his arm. I noticed that his shoes were all torn up. I had bought some steel-toed boots to do some work at my house. So I went to my car and gave them to him. He tried to thank me, but I told him it wasn’t necessary. Later on, I learned that he had passed away one night out in the cold. People were just walking by, not realizing or even paying any attention to him. It was so sad. So I decided to write a poem about it. I posted it on Veterans Day a few years ago, with the hope that more people would realize what these vets are going through. And that maybe we need to do more. Maybe we need to feel more.”

— Clarissa Fielder (Liberty)

Related:

• Adoptee thankful for only parents she ever knew

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“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gained a real level of respect for the homeless. For these people to be able to wake up every morning and only have whatever they can fit in their bag or whatever they’re carrying, and go about their day, that says something about them. I really don’t even like that word, homeless. It’s tough to see people and know that they don’t have anything, that they don’t have a place to call home. I can’t imagine what that’s really like.

“It’s tough to see anyone having to live on the streets. But the thing that probably hits home the hardest for me is seeing veterans out there. After serving our country and then finding themselves in that kind of situation, it just breaks my heart.

“I’ve pretty much decided that right out of high school or college, I want to go into the military and train dogs. Then once I get out of the military, I would like to train service dogs for veterans suffering with PTSD. That’s my goal. It’s another way for me to help people who are in need.”

— Layton Lewis

Related:

• Helping the homeless, he learns lesson about giving

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“My parents would always tell me to slow down. Because as a stutterer, when you are trying to speak, you want to get everything out in one breath. But you can’t really do that. And when you stutter, all of your organs are so tense that it’s completely exhausting. Your head hurts. Your chest hurts. And it feels that way for such a long time. So when you leave that situation, you’re just completely drained.

“I always held out hope that one day I would no longer stutter. But there is no magic pill. I just had to learn skills to help minimize things. Through all of the speech therapy, hypnosis and other things I tried — including a voodoo woman who said she could cure me with a chicken foot — I came to the realization that it’s just who I am. I’m almost 48 years old, and it has taken me such a long time to accept who I really am. I am Pedro. I stutter. Who cares? I love myself.”

— Pedro Pena

Check out his YouTube channel, My Stuttering Life.

Related:

• Childhood trauma leads to life of stuttering
• He reaches out to help through ‘My Stuttering Life’

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Related:

• Center offers guidance for military veterans
• Egypt native gladly serves his new country

The post Helping veterans deal with heavy burden appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“When I started here, I met a veteran who was 100 percent disabled. About 80 percent of his disability was PTSD. Doctors had told him that his injuries and mental issues were so severe that he shouldn’t expect to be successful in school. Nobody really expected him to even pass his classes.

“At that time, he was really struggling. But he really wanted that degree. So I sat down with him with the goal of helping him fit all the pieces together. I changed his degree plan. I reduced the number of classes he was taking. I gave him a job working here at the Veterans Center to monitor him and make sure he had all the help he needed.

“About two years ago, he graduated from University of Houston-Clear Lake with his bachelor’s degree. He’s in Germany right now with his wife and kids, starting a whole new life for himself and his family.

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“I’m originally from Egypt. But ever since I was a kid, I was a big fan of American movies. My dream was always to come here one day.

“When I was in my mid-20s, I had my bachelor’s degree in accounting but the job market in Egypt wasn’t that great. So I decided to make the move to the United States for a better future.

“I had about $300 in my pocket when I arrived. A lot of people expected me to turn around and go back home within a few months, but I stayed and haven’t been back since.

“In 1999, I joined the military. Everybody thought it was because I wanted to gain my citizenship by serving. But I had already earned my citizenship. I knew that the military here was voluntary, but I wanted to join. As a new citizen of the United States, I felt it was my civic duty to serve my country. I didn’t think I should just come here to enjoy all the freedoms and civil liberties without giving anything back. And I’ve never regretted that decision.”

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“He was everybody’s best friend. It was one of the hardest things I have been through, mostly because it was so unexpected,” said Derek, a 2003 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown. “I never knew the details, other than reading it was a case of mistaken identity.”

Shaken by the shooting, Derek felt like running away. “And the Marine Corps was happy to have me,” he said.

Less than a month after the funeral, Derek was being sworn in. Within a year, he was stationed in Iraq.

“It changed my life profoundly,” Derek said. “But through this terrible loss, my life gained meaning, purpose and direction.”

Military trauma

A third-generation Marine, following in his father’s footsteps, Derek rose to the rank of sergeant. He served a year-long deployment to Iraq’s Anbar Province and another aboard the U.S.S. Essex in a humanitarian and training capacity with countries across Southeast Asia.

Derek completed his service in 2008. But the experience proved hard to shake.

“Looking back on my time in Iraq, I feel very guilty knowing that I contributed to the devastation and destruction in that country over the past 14 years. It hasn’t sat well with me,” he said.

“I thought my contribution to that war would have helped an oppressed people. But I think the country is in far worse shape than it was before we entered.”

Derek fought additional personal battles after his time in Iraq, mostly post-traumatic stress and depression.

He said that one of the hardest things, especially for veterans, is asking for help.

“It’s stigmatized and viewed as being weak, which is incredibly wrong. It’s shockingly normal. One in four Americans will experience some sort of mental illness, post-traumatic stress being one of them,” Derek said.

“Dealing with it is just a matter of whether you have a community around you with the proper resources. Thankfully, I had that when I needed it. It was up to me to reach out.”

Nonprofit world

Despite enjoying teaching and originally planning to pursue that as a career, Derek was introduced to the veteran nonprofit world through some volunteer work while attending graduate school at City College of New York. It opened his eyes to the unmet needs of returning veterans, and it sparked his desire to serve that community.

Derek is making a difference now as veterans’ health officer for the New York State Health Foundation.

“My role is pretty incredible. I get to invest in organizations that are dedicated to improving the health of veterans across New York,” he said. “I’m helping expand some of the services that were vital to my transition out of the service, so it is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.”

Derek finds time to volunteer with Puppies Behind Bars. The organization trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and explosive detection canines for law enforcement.

He also is a competitive runner, and participated in the United Airlines NYC Half-Marathon on March 19. The event benefited Tuesday’s Children, formed in the aftermath of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, as a response and recovery organization that supports youth, families and communities impacted by terrorism and traumatic loss.

Watch Derek run

Derek was never a running enthusiast. But after his time in Iraq, it became a way for him to temporarily escape his problems related to PTSD and depression.

“Before long, I was running nearly 50 miles a week. I have since run four full marathons and quite a few smaller races,” said Derek, who raised more than $1,500 in finishing the NYC Half-Marathon in a little over two hours.

“I love to travel and explore new places, so running became a way for me to get acclimated to new environments. It really is the best way to get to know a new place, which is one of the ways I got adjusted to living in New York City.”

Giving back to Tuesday’s Children has not only allowed Derek to support the organization’s mission, “but also help in my healing process by continuing to serve others — something instilled in me as a young Marine.”

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