On Standby : Relief Effort Gives Homeless Veterans Free Services

During the dark times, Tom Pratt wondered whether he could go on.

By last fall, the 40-year-old Vietnam veteran and single parent had lost his job. And his home. And he was on the verge of permanently losing custody of his 7-year-old son.

“I was very much preoccupied with some pretty devastating thoughts,” recalls the Ventura man. “I was at the point where I didn’t have anything else to lose.”

That’s when he stumbled across Stand Down, a relief effort for homeless veterans held last year. The three-day event--which offers free medical care, legal help and a variety of other social services--will be held for the second time at Ventura College starting Friday.

About 90 homeless veterans from throughout Ventura County took part in last year’s program, including Pratt, who said it turned his life around.

“At the time I ran across Stand Down, it was looking pretty hopeless,” said Pratt, who lost his job because of illness. Stand Down volunteers helped him find a new one, which put a roof over his head and allowed him to keep his son.

“Stand Down gave me a second chance,” he said. “It saved my life.”

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No one knows for sure how many veterans received long-term help during Stand Down 1993.

Because the homeless are so transient, event organizers have had a tough time tracking participants who were searching for jobs and permanent housing last year.

All organizers know for sure is that people such as Pratt were helped, and that gives them hope that Stand Down 1994 will be an even bigger success.

“We hope to help as many veterans as want to be helped break out of homelessness and back into mainstream society,” said Claire Hope, founder of the Ventura County event. “At the very least, we can provide three days of food, shelter and clothing.”

Stand Down is a military term used when a unit is shifted from a combat situation to one of safety and security.

The programs have been staged nationwide, and this year 47 Stand Downs will be held in 29 states. Hope said she attended her first Stand Down in Long Beach in 1992 and was so inspired that she decided to start the same thing here.

It took 14 months to pull it together, culminating last October with a mini-tent city on the Ventura College football field.

Doctors offered physical exams to the military veterans. Lawyers helped them clear up outstanding warrants for misdemeanor charges and fines from convictions.

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Career counselors helped the veterans look for jobs, and barbers cut their hair without charge.

Oxnard dentist Robert Keating spent the weekend providing free dental exams and dispensing advice on oral hygiene. He will be at it again this weekend.

“It was very rewarding,” Keating said. “I think our success comes from letting some people know what is out there and available to them.”

To boost attendance this year, organizers advertised on posters and flyers earlier than last year. In addition, dozens of social service and nonprofit agencies have been enlisted to spread the word and sign up participants.

Already, nearly 150 homeless veterans have pre-registered. Still, some veterans want no part of Stand Down.

“We don’t need to go into town to sleep in a tent,” said Ted Edwards, a Vietnam veteran who has made his home on the Ventura River bottom for the past six years. Event organizers and volunteers acknowledge that Stand Down is not for everyone.

“If anything is going to happen for an individual, he’s going to have to make it for himself,” said Gary Wood, who supervises veterans’ programs for the state employment department.

Until he attended Stand Down last year, Marvin Jenkins says he too often sought comfort at the bottom of a bottle. He attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in a camouflage tent at Ventura College football field.

Today, he holds a full-time job, has a permanent place to live and has been sober for nearly a year. He will attend this year’s event as a volunteer.

“I just new I had to start turning my life around,” Jenkins said. “And that’s when it started.”

FYI

Stand Down 1994 will take place at Ventura College starting Friday. The three-day relief effort will offer medical care, legal help and a variety of social services to homeless military veterans from across Ventura County. The event ends Sunday afternoon.