Vets need business ties

Pairs of navy blue rhythm sticks were slipped into plastic sleeves before being heat-sealed and packed into boxes.

This work isn’t as physically demanding as what these people at assembly tables did when they wore the uniforms of this nation’s military. But for these men and women participating in the Veterans Affairs’ Compensated Work Therapy Program, packaging band instruments represents a crucial step on the journey to getting their lives and dignity back.

Fort Worth’s Veterans Industries, with its giant U.S. flag painted on the building’s exterior, stands out. It is one of 169 locations nationwide that provide homeless veterans — and those at risk of becoming homeless — a way to earn a salary while receiving the medical, mental health and vocational services necessary to return to self-sufficiency.

Program participant Rachel, 50, is proud to say she’s no longer homeless, but she knows about life on the street.

“My auntie put me out of the family house, and I couldn’t blame her,” she said. “Way I used crack cocaine was kinda iffy.”

Her housing is part of the city of Fort Worth’s Shelter-Plus program, which provides a home plus social services. Rachel, who was discharged from the Air Force in 1979 after a noncombat injury, hopes the training and placement opportunities available through work therapy will lead to fulltime employment.

For Army and Navy veteran Rick, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, VI’s programs and the counselors are crucial if he’s going to stay clean and sober.

“I can succeed when I let God and these people take control,” said the 51-year-old, who lives at the Union Gospel Mission. “But if I don’t stay busy, it gives me a chance to relapse. Idle time is when I get in trouble.”

Corporate partners

John Purkey, the CWT program manager, wants to keep Rick and his fellow veterans busy, but he needs more local corporate partners that have jobs to outsource. Assembling, packaging, bagging, labeling, sorting or mailing — Purkey’s work force is ready to provide dependable, high-quality work, finished on a timely basis at a competitive price. Pick up and delivery are included.

In the first six months of 2009, Purkey said, this quasi-private business paid $160,000 in salaries to its veteran clients. Not a dime of that came from the taxpayers; it was all from contracts with private companies.

The CWT program’s motto is “One good job deserves another.” The veterans in the program aren’t asking for pity. They want the opportunity to earn an honest buck and regain their self-respect.

X Labbe is the editorial director of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune.