Homeless vets find hope

Army veteran David Platt used to sleep in abandoned houses in North Charleston, after his alcohol-fueled descent into homelessness.

He was among the roughly 300,000 veterans the government estimates are homeless during the course of each year in the United States. But a growing network of services in the Charleston area has helped him change his life.

"Four years ago, I was a homeless drunk on the streets, picking cigarette butts out of ashtrays," said Platt, 51, formerly of Mount Pleasant. "When I finally got honest with myself, this is where I came."

Platt is living at the Good Neighbor Center in North Charleston, one of several transitional housing facilities for homeless veterans in the region. He's nearly completed an associate's degree in horticulture at Trident Technical College, and is looking forward to living independently.

An influx of federal funding this year will increase housing options for local homeless veterans substantially.

Linda Williams coordinates homeless programs for the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

She said there are about 375 homeless vets in the area, but only 100 transitional beds at four facilities; Good Neighbor Center, Veteran Villas, Crisis Ministries and Carolina Homeless Veterans.

New funding will allow for 36 more transition housing slots, where homeless veterans can live for limited periods of time. Along with the 70 housing vouchers to help pay for subsidized apartments, that means the number of veterans who can be placed in housing should more than double.

"I can use every one of those beds," said Williams, who said the last increase was in 2004.

While some of the homeless veterans are women, most are single men around the age of 50, like Platt. Most of the 32 residents of the Good Neighbor Center are Vietnam-era veterans, and only one served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

That would be Donnie Zehnder, 31, of Moncks Corner.

In contrast to the older men who seem more at peace, Zehnder gives the impression of a tightly coiled spring as he tells his story, alternating between anger he directs at the military and repentance for his failures as a father of three.

Zehnder said he took to heavy drinking after he was discharged in 2006. He wound up on the street this year after he nearly killed himself in a car wreck, and his wife of 12 years obtained a protection from abuse order after he hit her, and cut a man with a knife, during an altercation in their house.

"I was afraid when I was in Iraq, but I was terrified when I was homeless," Zehnder said.

And after about two weeks' on the streets, he went tearfully to a VA facility "begging for help."

Now Zehnder is at the center under the watchful eye of Frank Brown, a program coordinator well suited for the job. Brown is a former Army drill sergeant who served in combat in Vietnam, as well as a former probation and parole agent, and a certified addiction counselor.

Brown enforces the rules all residents must follow in the converted motel building, where each room is shared by two men, but also counsels the men through their sometimes lengthy preparation for living on their own again.

He said it takes time before combat-trained soldiers will admit they need help, and he expects to see more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the coming years. "For so long, the government has allowed limited funding for all these veterans," Brown said. "Now, they see where we would be without these people.

"This country has been too blessed to have veterans, or the general population, living on the streets," he said.

Donald Healy, team leader at the Vet Center in North Charleston, also expects to see some of today's warriors among tomorrow's homeless. "In my experience, homelessness is a downward spiral that takes place over time," he said. "There's probably no age limit on when things can go wrong in someone's life."

At the VA hospital and its clinics, veterans can get medical services, counseling and substance abuse treatments, and referrals for job training, unemployment assistance, and housing if they are homeless.

Chuck Rein coordinates a Department of Labor program for homeless veterans at the South Carolina Employment Security Commission in Charleston. He said he's had three clients call or visit his office since Friday. "It's a quiet problem," he said. "A lot of people don't like to say anything."

The difficulty overcoming homelessness and the substance abuse problems that often go hand in hand are evident in the statistics.

Nancy Cook, the former Charleston County School Board member who runs the Good Neighbor Center, said the center's 46 percent success rate is above average. Of course, that means more than half don't succeed. "You and I can never imagine what they've seen and been through to protect our freedom," she said.

TODAY'S EVENTS

CEREMONY AT MEMMINGER: 9:30 a.m. Memminger Elementary School at Beaufain and Coming streets. Augustus D. Robinson Jr., a retired member of the Air Force and pastor of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, will be the guest speaker. Charleston native and former Tuskegee Airman Edward Gibson is expected to make a guest appearance.

MONCKS CORNER: The town and Veterans of Foreign Affairs Post 9509 will celebrate Veterans Day with the fourth annual Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony. The parade begins at the Train Depot at 10:15 a.m. The ceremony starts at 11 a.m. at the memorial at the Old County Hospital/Health Department.

NORTH CHARLESTON: The city's seventh annual "Tribute to Our American Veterans" will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Park Circle Community Center. For more information, call 745-1028 or e-mail cdambaugh@northcharleston.org.

SUMMERVILLE: The 15th annual Summerville Veterans Day Ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the County Services Building at 500 N. Main St at U.S. Highway 78. The event, hosted by the Disabled American Veterans Summerville Chapter, is free and open to the public.

GOOSE CREEK: American Legion Post 166 will conduct its annual Veterans Day Observance at Carolina Memorial Gardens, 7113 Rivers Ave., North Charleston. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at the Garden of Valor. Call 553-5454 or visit americanlegionpost166sc.org.

THE CITADEL: "The Korean War from Korean and American Perspectives with Aloysius O'Neill" will be held at 6:30 p.m. at The Citadel in Bond Hall 165. Free.

"WHY THEY FOUGHT": 7 p.m. The Charleston Museum, 360 Meeting St., Charleston. Free. The final installment in the museum's Revolutionary War lecture series, "Why They Fought," will explore the experiences of soldiers from South Carolina during the war. Carl Borick, the museum's assistant director, will present the lecture. Call 722-2996 for information.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.