Gene Williams walked into the National Guard Armory in Dothan, picked up a questionnaire, and sat down.
Maybe this time would be different.
Williams says he is a member of the working homeless. He said he holds down a part-time job washing dishes at a local restaurant and tries to pick up some extra money by washing windows, but it isn’t enough to pay rent at even a cheap apartment.
So Williams began to fill out the questionnaire, hoping it would lead him to the right program targeted toward homeless veterans. Williams said he came home from Vietnam in 1973 and lived off a series of odd jobs for most of the past 36 years. When the economy is good, he’s fine. But during the dips, Williams said he has found himself on the streets in Atlanta, Birmingham and other places over the years.
Now, Williams said he is ready to get off the streets for good.
Thursday, Williams joined scores of other veterans at the 2009 Homeless Stand Down, a cooperative effort of several area veterans’ organizations with the goal of exposing as many homeless veterans as possible to as many available services as possible.
Williams said he believes some of the services — flu shots, job training information, permanent housing information, VA services — should help him.
“I’m a veteran, so I’m not looking for a handout,” he said. “I’m just looking for a hand-up.”
The 2009 Stand Down is the second of its kind in Dothan. The last one was held in 2007.
Other services offered to homeless veterans Thursday included mental health evaluations, family counseling, women’s wellness, medical screening and others. Information was also provided about how veterans could access spiritual counseling, elder health care, credit counseling, legal assistance and others.
“We just want to get the word out to help as many veterans as we can,” said James Hilburn, commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 87.
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