She was an older woman and mother of two, soaked to the skin, standing on a street corner in a heavy rain near 42nd Street in Indianapolis. She was on a mission. She had placed a call from her cell phone, ashamed of her situation but relentless for help.
Davina had spent five years in the
Army. She once ordered parts and supplies for military vehicles and with an honorable
discharge moved to Maryland to find work. She worked odd jobs for two decades.
She
began using drugs in 2006.
Like many veterans,
when Davina tried to transition back into life outside the military, she found
so much had changed. In 2009, Davina started living on the streets.
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| Davina at HVAF |
“I was angry and frustrated. Why
hire a homeless lady? I thought. I did not even have a permanent address. I
worried what others might think. I wondered if managers feared if they helped
me, pretty soon I’d start bringing my homeless friends to beg for jobs, harass
customers, and hang around the store,” adds Davina.
“I had three-thousand dollars in my savings account
and within 2 weeks I had completely emptied the account because of addiction,”
she says.
In 2011, after her Mom passed away, Davina moved to
Indianapolis. It is when she became homeless. She slept at family or friends.
Davina’s
aunt told her about a job fair for veterans at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds. She
attended and learned more about the services and programs offered to homeless
veterans. She began to receive help from several organizations including
Partners in Housing who then referred her to HVAF.
Davina spent her days looking for employment and going to the
library where she scoured the classifieds of every free newspaper she could
find. Reading was a pleasant distraction that she says kept her mind off food
and cold.
“HVAF
saved my life,” says Davina.
Jobless and penniless, Davina, 47, decided to go HVAF where
she met HVAF Case Manager, Jason Murray.
At HVAF, Davina learned that she qualified for the
SSVF program and HVAF helped her furnish her apartment as well as provided bus
passes which allowed her to use money from her full-time job at a local call
center to pay bills. HVAF also helped provide Davina with food, hygiene and
clothing items.
Shelter from the storm
“I
had always been a fighter, but I was scared. I was scared of rejection. I don’t
like to depend on people. I am very independent and that was one of my biggest
challenges to open up and allow people to help me.”
Now she is in from the rain and has
a roof over her head.
“I love my apartment because it fits me. It’s no
thrills but I pay my own rent. I feel like I am getting back to the way I was
before drugs. Everything in the apartment belongs to me.”
Davina has been clean and sober since November
2014. She is motivated to stay clean and sober so that
she can be present for her future grandchildren. She also recently purchased a
car which she says has been a blessing.
The Indiana Podiatry Group donated 1,100 pairs of socks and roughly 60 pair of Crocs shoes to HVAF on Monday, December 28, 2015. The effort originated as an idea from two medical assistants and quickly ended up gaining support and donations among seven Indiana Podiatry Group offices in Central Indiana. Educating the public on proper foot health is important because many people do not realize the significant impact inadequate socks and can have on one's foot health and overall health especially for homeless veterans who walk the streets in search of shelter and food.
