Editor’s note: This story includes mention of suicide. Help with thoughts of suicide or other mental health concerns is available by calling 988. While doing street outreach around Salem years ago, former VETcare director Brenda Powers met a veteran and his service dog living in a tent. Soon after she explained the housing and recovery program she ran, he became a VETcare client.  With the help of VETcare’s services, the man did commercial driver’s license training and got a job as a long haul trucker. Now he owns a home and the truck he drives.   “He told me … if the director hadn’t come out and talked to him that day, he was planning on committing suicide that night and this place basically saved his life,” Nancy Pine, VETcare’s suicide prevention program director, said.  Pine, the man’s former case manager, said he invites her to lunch or dinner whenever he’s in Salem. “It’s been years, but he still thinks about that,” she said. VETcare, located at 2933 Center St. N.E. in Salem, is the Oregon location for the WestCare Foundation, a network of clinical and social programs for veterans, families and LGBTQ+ people in 17 states and several U.S. territories. VETcare was established in Salem in 2014.  The nonprofit gets a majority of its funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Labor. It offers transitional housing, suicide prevention and job assistance. The program helps male veterans address mental health challenges with a roof over their heads before they move out to live on their own again.  The program exists as a growing number of people live unhoused in Marion and Polk Counties. In 2020, the city of Salem estimated 1,188 unhoused people in both counties. Veterans represent around 10% of the area’s homeless population.  Many of the men director Roy McClain sees have been homeless for a while, sometimes for months or for 20 years. Some find themselves unhoused abruptly due to the end of a relationship or marriage.   Clients first meet with a case manager to make a wellbeing plan based on their needs and goals. Each client can stay at the VETcare building for up to two years, but most complete their plan and move out in one year, according to McClain. In what used to be a nursing home, clients work through their wellbeing plan while living with around 25 other men.  Nancy Pine and James Martichuski discussing the vegetables growing in the VETcare garden on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (Madeleine Moore/Salem Reporter) VETcare’s building is a men-only facility. It has 15 bedrooms with two beds each, a computer room, TV room, a backyard patio and garden. Over the program’s years, the men have made VETcare into more than just a place to live. Staff said that clients turned it into a family. “You, at one point in time, raised your right hand and swore an oath to the United States, and here we are,” the employment program manager James Martichuski said, describing how the men treat each other at VETcare. “We’re brothers in this fight so let’s band together and get through this together.”  VETcare also helps unhoused veterans sign up for social security, disability benefits and Veterans Affairs health care. The first six months after a client leaves the facility, case manager Chanel Harris checks in regularly, providing care and services as they transition to new housing and other community resources. McClain said most of VETcare’s veterans are referred to Easterseals, a nonprofit based in Portland that provides housing for veterans and people with disabilities.   Veterans carry more pride in their day-to-day life compared to civilians, McClain said. In the military, veterans are taught to do and not complain, something that transfers to their life back home after serving.  At VETcare, McClain sees veterans who, not only refuse to complain, but have lost everyday life skills due to living on the streets for so long. Veterans also experience various mental health challenges due to their time in the military. Around 17 veterans die by suicide every day, a number which used to be 22 every day a decade ago. VETcare can connect unhoused veterans who’ve been suicidal at any time in their life with resources in Marion and Polk counties to develop coping skills and process trauma. Some of those resources include PTSD therapy, Narcotics or Alcoholics Anonymous, equine therapy and veteran social groups.   Of VETcare’s 20 employees, around 90% are veterans and some have also been homeless. Because of their past experiences, staff members understand veterans in a way civilians can’t, McClain said.  McClain, who’s been director since June 2023, retired from the military in 2003 after 20 years split evenly between the U.S. Navy and Kansas Army National Guard. McClain, along with Pine and Martichuski, felt drawn to nonprofit work after serving in the military and grew tired of for-profit companies or law enforcement. County corrections and law enforcement agencies call McClain when they have a formerly incarcerated veteran who needs a place to live. Marion County Veteran Treatment Court refers veterans to VETcare for housing as they work through mandated substance use treatment.  Some men recently out of prison or jail are eager to get their fresh start, and once they get in touch with VETcare, they take off.  “Those guys stand out because they are so successful when they get out of prison,” McClain said.  Success stories are “what pays us,” according to McClain. Martichuski described a recent success story of getting a client connected with mental health and addiction support in Utah. Pine said another man returns to VETcare with baked goods once in a while, the most recent treat being lemon bars.  McClain said one former client still attends VETcare meetings out of pure gratitude. “Every once in a while he’ll get up in a Wednesday meeting and talk and he can’t make five words before he starts crying,” McClain said. “He’s just so thankful for the program.”  At VETcare, McClain and the rest of the staff regularly get to “see people get back to life,” he said. Any unhoused male veteran who doesn’t have a dishonorable discharge is eligible for VETcare’s services. They must also be Marion or Polk County residents or live unhoused in either county for at least one night to be eligible for VETcare. Although female veterans can’t stay at VETcare’s housing building, the program often refers women to the Tanner Project, Simonka Place and other shelters around Oregon.  VETcare will have its first annual benefit concert, VETFEST, on Nov. 9 at the Salem Armory Auditorium, 2310 17th St. N.E. The concert lineup includes Ty Curtis & the Ty Curtis Band, Johnny Wheels and the Swamp Donkeys and David Welch.  Information about the concert and tickets are available online. Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Salem program brings unhoused veterans together, helps them “get back to life” appeared first on Salem Reporter.