VENTURA : Helping Hand, Good Cheer for Homeless Vets at Gathering

Men in fatigues pulled down military tents on the Ventura College football field Sunday as Don Conklin waited nearby for his ride.

Conklin, a homeless Air Force veteran from San Luis Obispo, had come to the third annual Ventura County Stand Down, an effort to provide medical and social services to homeless vets. Sunday was the last day of the three-day event.

Stand Down volunteers had given Conklin advice on how to hunt for a job--the former air traffic controller is looking for work in emergency dispatch. He also received his first medical exam in seven years.

But Conklin said the most valuable part of the event was the chance to share information and experiences with other homeless veterans.

“You get to find out what other people’s problems have been and how they solved them,” he said.

About 120 veterans attended during the long weekend, said Sharon Dwyer, Stand Down’s co-chairwoman.

That is 60 fewer than last year, which Dwyer saw as a hopeful sign. Some local veterans, she said, had found housing since the last event.

“The true measure of success is if at next year’s Stand Down we have people come back as volunteers.”

The vets received legal services, counseling on government programs that could help them, AIDS and tuberculosis testing, meals and showers.

The event’s purpose, Dwyer said, is to give homeless veterans both a break from street life and information to help them put their lives back together.

“It’s a matter of trying to provide a safe environment to break the cycle of homelessness,” she said. “There’s a lot of vets who don’t understand the services available to them.”

The first Stand Down was held in San Diego in 1988. Since then, the idea has spread to about 40 states.

An Air Force veteran from Santa Barbara who identified himself only as Jerry attended last year’s Stand Down and hoped to return next year as a volunteer.

He said he was looking for a landscaping job. Volunteers showed him how to write a resume. “There’s so many doors that can be opened that you don’t realize,” he said.

For many of the veterans, the weekend offered a chance to swap stories and jokes with people from a similar background.

“There was a lot of love, a lot of joking going on,” said Ike, a homeless veteran from the Bay Area currently living in San Luis Obispo. “The humor of the serviceman completely escapes the civilian,” he said.

Sunday afternoon, men from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 at Port Hueneme took down the approximately 30 tents that had housed the veterans and some of the services for the weekend. Buses arrived to carry home the vets from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, while they were still swapping stories.

“The brotherhood and camaraderie is the thing I’ll take,” Jerry said.