July 10, 2012 - This month, more than a dozen homeless veterans will finally have a place to call their own, thanks to the American Legion.The organization's post in a small Connecticut town has been working for a decade on a unique project to create not transitional but permanent supportive housing in their rural community.
For 55-year-old Army veteran Jeff MacDonald, the new facility in Jewett City, Conn., was like "winning the lottery."
"Never did I have a house or my own place or nothing," MacDonald says while walking through his new apartment. "That's why I'm always outside."
MacDonald is one of 15 homeless veterans who will live in the renovated American Legion Post. When he got the news, MacDonald says he cried. He has spent the past 22 years drifting from place to place, and battling alcoholism along the way. Now, he's awestruck by the idea that he'll have his own home.
Jewett City is in southeastern Connecticut, a rural town that lost its major textile industry when the mills closed after World War II. It's a quiet community with a Main Street that's quintessential New England. Everything you need is a short walk away.
A popular destination is Arremony's Bakery, just a few feet away from the American Legion Post. It was there that Navy veteran William Czmyr first hatched his idea to help homeless veterans by creating apartments for them. read more>>>
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