First Day: Post 6



Photo of a homeless veteran. He is not a First Day alumni since their privacy is being respected.

The Whittier First Day Coalition has helped many recover from homelessness. First Day has helped a wide variety of people. The veterans who have gone through First Day to receive assistance finally got the care they finally deserved.

In the United States those who are drafted and sent off to war do not always come back and those who do are not always physically and emotionally stable. They may come back physically disabled or mentally disturbed. Although some may have families to care for them not all of them are fortunate enough to have that kind of support. In some cases families may lose patience or are not financially able to provide their veterans services. Others may not have family members willing to support them, therefore, they lack the social networks and have difficulty establishing new social connections due to lack of services needed to help them adjust to civilian life.

At First Day veterans are provided the services they need in order to become a part of the community once again. Two First Day alumni were able to successfully make the transition from homelessness to becoming productive members of society.

One of the two veterans is a man in his late 60’s. After his 34 years of service he ended up on the streets and became chronically homeless. He was homeless for 17 years before he finally came across First Day.

When he arrived at First Day he was able to receive the assistance he needed to find housing. First Day worked with Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) to help find the veteran housing that would best suit his needs. Due to his lack of paperwork the process to get the necessary paperwork took approximately two months to complete, and it took about a month to finally find available housing that was a right fit for the veteran.

To show that he was grateful for First Day’s assistance the veteran attended a city council meeting to thank Whittier for helping him find housing and thanked them for providing services for the mentally ill, health care and for the donations made by Whittier Community Church.

Another veteran that received assistance from First Day was a 50-year-old man who was referred to First Day by the Volunteers of America. While First Day was in the process of navigating housing for the veteran they were able to help him get in contact with his 17-year-old son who was living with some relatives at the time.   

First Day put together documentation for Section 8 voucher for him and his son who were able to be housed in Whittier. Both father and son were provided with intercommunity services, and the father went on to attend East Los Angeles Community College where he studies the effects drugs have on people.