Terry is a veteran who faced long-term challenges with substance use that ultimately resulted in homelessness. Because of his long-term alcohol use disorder, Terry’s physical health declined, and he soon lost the ability to walk due to neuropathy.
Eventually, Terry was hospitalized and then he stayed in a nursing home, where he slowly regained the use of his legs. When he was able to leave the nursing home, Terry moved to the VA in Danville, Illinois, the town he had called home for many years. In early 2020, he moved into Mercy Housing Lakefront’s Cannon Place.
Cannon Place provides 65 affordable homes for veterans and their families on the campus of the Danville VA Medical Center. At Cannon Place, residents have access to onsite programs like community events, activities, and group trainings, as well as individual support through the VA, other outside partners, and an onsite Resident Services Coordinator.
“There’s a comfort in being here,” Terry explains. “Say for instance if I have some medical issues and say I can’t work for a period, there’s a comfort of knowing that they’ll work with me.” Beyond the safety and security that Cannon Place provides, Terry also realized that, “there’s an opportunity here for me to grow.”
Terry has taken full advantage of this opportunity – he entered the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy program and then was hired by the VA in Nutrition and Food Service. Recently, he got his Driver’s License back. In addition, he has strong relationships with his five children, as well as his twelve grandchildren and two foster grandchildren. “I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that we don’t touch base.”
As he has made progress, Terry has also gotten to know many of his Cannon Place neighbors. “I see a lot of veterans that were more traumatized than I was. I like to try to help and try to give back. Hopefully I can lead them in the right direction and live the example that I’m living, and hopefully [they] see that change and that joy, that they can have that too.”
To help his fellow veterans at Cannon Place, this year Terry started a peer group, which meets every Tuesday. It’s an opportunity for them to speak confidentially about the challenges they are facing and receive support from their fellow veterans. “I’ve had a veteran or two make a comment to me that watching me pushing every day through the hard times to accomplish what has happened in my life, that it gave them hope too. And that’s what sparked that desire in my heart to start this meeting. That there is an opportunity, there is hope, and nobody’s ever too far gone.”
Terry appreciates the support he’s received from the staff at Cannon Place in starting this group, including the Resident Services Coordinator, Melissa. “It’s a blessing to have people that work at this place that really care about the veterans.”
For more information about Mercy Housing Lakefront, please visit: Mercy Housing | Lakefront.