https://vimeo.com/18393772]
“We’re about to load up the van,” says Richard Finch, head of Impact Service’s Veterans Services. “You’ll want to get a shot of that.”
A re-purposed eight-passenger van pulls into the shadow of Impact Service’s 124 East Indiana Ave. location in Fairhill. The building houses the corporation’s Veterans Shared Housing Initiative (VSHI) and the Dual Diagnosis Program (DDX), two entry level programs that serve as step one for homeless veterans who are just coming off the street. The DDX program treats veterans who are battling substance abuse and mental illness, a twin challenge that affects more than half of America’s homeless veterans. The van is there to ensure that these veterans get the help they need outside of Impact’s facility.
“It gives them a chance to get out and take care of any necessary appointments they have,” says Impact’s Health Initiative Transportation Coordinator Franchot Fitzgerald.
The long title is a fancy phrase for what Fitzgerald actually does. “I’m a driver,” he says with a smile. “I pick the vets up and take them to the VA hospital.”
His nine months as the Impact van driver come from his background with Impact as a client.
“Four years in the Navy,” he says. “I did have some substance issues to address so I chose the Philly program, Impact program, which is a very excellent program. I was here one year.”
Like Fitzgerald, many of the Impact employees came through the program, including the first person you see when you walk into the building. He sits behind his desk in a small, non-descript office. The only signifier of his name is a modified UPS slogan: “What can Mr. Brown do for you?”
Kevin Brown, the assistant supervisor of residential monitors who’s usually known only by his last name, says: “I came through the program. I used to be a client, then I got the job here.”
First names are rare at Impact and instead last names are used as a sign of respect learned by the clients and staff during their time in the military.
“When a client comes here he can stay for up to eight months on this side of the program,” says Brown. “When you’re on this side here you’re just focused on getting yourself prepared, getting back on your meds and getting away from the drugs and alcohol.”
During their time at 124 East Indiana Ave., known by staff and clients simply as “124,” veterans are not allowed to hold a job because they must devote all their attention on accomplishing their individual goals. These goals can range from staying away from drugs and alcohol to reconnecting with family members they have not seen for many years.
Alfred Kravitz, a Vietnam veteran, is a client who is big on goals. He has been at Impact’s level one program for just over five months, fighting a battle against his addictions to alcohol
and prescription pills.
“Since I’ve been here I haven’t had an urge to use or drink and I don’t want to,” he says. “I’m doing this for myself, you know, but I’m also doing it for my family and my grandchildren.”
Kravitz is thin and wears a pair of plaid shorts pulled up high over a simple, gray T-shirt. His hair is neatly combed and parted to one side. Its graying color matches his thick, closely trimmed mustache. The family Kravitz is referring to includes a wife he is currently separated from, a son and daughter and four grandchildren.
“Five, four, three and two,” he says, laughing as he lists their ages.
Kravitz is currently a “two” at 124, a numerical signifier that reveals the progress he has made since joining the program. Clients are a “one” when they first enter the program which means that they can’t go anywhere for thirty days without an escort that is a “two” or a “three.”
“I could be a ‘three,’” Kravitz says. “But I don’t worry about that. It makes me feel good. It builds my self esteem, which I was lacking in really bad because I thought back on all the horrible things I did to my family and now they’re starting to see the potential in me since I’ve been here.”
His status as a “two” has awarded Kravitz the position of “peer counselor,” something of an unofficial shrink, or a shoulder to lean on for his fellow clients. He is in a position where he has gained enough self- confidence to help others, but is still fighting a battle within himself. For this Kravitz meets with a counselor one day a week and attends a group therapy program.
“Most of us here are 50 and above, I think the youngest guy is 40,” says Kravitz. “And these guys, everyone in their own regard has different aspects about what they know. If you take the time to ask them they’ll point you in the right direction.”
If Kravitz stays on the path he’s on, he could reach his ultimate goal of reuniting with his family and continue to offer a helping hand to his fellow veterans as a full-time Impact employee.
“The reality is not everybody is going to make it,” Brown says. “The reality is some of us is going to go back to the disease of alcohol, the disease of drug addiction, the disease of homelessness because of the things we do, the decisions we make.”
Luckily, even those veterans that end up homeless again can return to the program if they so choose. In the end their recovery is solely up to them.
“Well I’ll never be cured,” says Kravitz. “I still got demons to fight off and I’m getting the tools here to do that.”
Follow the link to learn about Impact Service’s second level Veterans Housing program, HomeBase.
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