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All about the Grant Package
Many "street" veterans in Columbia, South Carolina, remain chronically homeless and/or constantly recycle through treatment programs because the middle step of recovery does not exist. In September, 1995, the Alston Wilkes Society received a grant of $276,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs to help acquire and renovate a former medical office complex to serve as a transitional home for homeless veterans. This facility will provide that middle step of recovery in a secure, self-governing "home" with wrap-around support services where veterans may remain up to two years.
The Alston Wilkes Veterans Home will offer supervised re-entry into the community within an atmosphere of intensive peer counseling. The program will be provided by a coalition of agencies including Palmetto State Base Camp, the Veterans Advocate Outreach Office, the Veterans Regional Medical Center, the Alston Wilkes Society, and members of the Interagency Resource Council. Specific services are tailored to the needs outlined in the individualized service plans of the unit members. On-site services include development of the individualized service program, self-assessment, drug/alcohol aftercare, recreation therapy, self-esteem building, life skills training, social development, education skills/enrichment, employment skills training, volunteer services and spiritual development.
What we are going to do:
This grant package offers us the chance to begin work on the project that has headed our list of objectives for quite some time. This goal, to procure, renovate and operate a transitional home for South Carolina veterans, is now well underway.
We have obtained a facility suitable for our mission. Located at 3519 Medical Drive, Columbia, South Carolina, it was previously a childrens' medical clinic. Excerpted from our grant proposal:
Medical Drive intersects with Sunset Drive, a major thoroughfare which encompasses the entire east to west length of the city. The city bus line runs by the intersection of Medical Drive and Sunset with a bus stop nearby. The immediate area is comprised of medical office buldings, a sprawling townhouse apartment complex and a small budget motel. There are nearby fast foot restaurants and a Sam's Club within walking distance. There is paved parking on site for a maximum of 20-25 automobiles. The site is surrounded by undeveloped land on either side with a stream and thick woods to the rear, offering considerable privacy for residents.
The name for this facility is the Alston Wilkes Veterans Home.
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How the Home Works
The ultimate goal of the Alston Wilkes Veterans Home is to rehabilitate homeless veterans of the U.S. armed forces for reentry into society; this is to be obtained via life skills development, academic and vocational training and job development / employment services.
The key elements of the home are:
• Intensive peer counseling
• Interpersonal social survival skills training
• Training in attitudes and values needed for successful living
• A sense of responsibility
• Training in self-reliance
A core part of the Home's design to meet this goal is the extended family structure in its organization.
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Support Services
The Home will meet its rehabilitation goals with the host of support services it will provide. These will include:
Wrap-around services:
• Support Services Team
• Group Counseling and Training
• Individual Counseling and Training
On-site services:
• Individualized service program
• Self-assessment
• Recreation therapy
• Self-esteem building
• Life skills training
• Social development
• Educational skills and enrichment
• Employment skills training
• Volunteer services
• Spiritual development
• Legal counseling
• Veterans counseling
• Substance abuse treatment
• Very special arts
Case management supervision of:
• Addictions Aftercare Program
• Mental Health Aftercare Program
• Other Aftercare Programs
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Target Population
The Home's target population will consist of veterans fighting:
• despair
• hopelessness
• disability
• lack of housing
• unemployment
• substance abuse
• mental illness
• severe dysfunction
• negative survival habits
• socialization into homeless culture
• lack of self sufficiency
• lack of self esteem
• stress
• fear
The Alston Wilkes Veterans Home will not be merely a shelter for homeless persons. The population will be screened and become residents only after passing a thorough induction process. They will be veterans who suffer, yet possess a desire and capability to change their lives for the better.
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EXTRA
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