|
August 2005 Vol. 24. No. 8
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
|
|
|
Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
Plus in this issue catch more news, opinions, features, book reviews, and event calendars.
Pick up a copy today! Better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue! Brought to you by 
|
Veterans Services It takes work, but services support growth and change by Keith Henson In the early 1970s I came to Humboldt County to escape city life in Los Angeles. My GI Bill ran out before I was able to get my degree at HSU, and college life at that young age was more about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll than academic excellence. I found myself going afoul of the criminal justice system during seasonal layoffs at the mills and fisheries. After serving a last term of incarceration for possession for sale of a controlled substance, I decided that it was time to turn my life around and give a little back to the community that I've called home for the past 30 years. In order to do this I tapped into the resources available to veterans in this area - the first was Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) on the HSU campus. Veterans Upward Bound offers college prep classes and helps vets fill out enrollment forms and applications for financial aid. While a client of VUB, I prepared myself for a return to college by taking the computer science and algebra courses they offer. I took advantage of their summer math and science program to receive college credits for a statistics class and a biology seminar that I attended as a prelude to reentering HSU in the fall of 2002. Now I have come within nine units of getting my bachelor's degree in social work, which I will complete next semester thanks to the services currently provided to me by the North Coast Veteran's Resource Center of Eureka. The center offers a variety of services to veterans, including employment services and job training. They provide subsidized housing with room and board to a small number of veterans who are motivated to make positive changes in their lives, move out of poverty and into the mainstream work force. I will be able to go on to obtain my Addiction Studies Certification at College of the Redwoods and perhaps go for my master of social work degree after putting a couple of years in the field as an alcohol and drug counselor and becoming eligible for the Over-60 Program at HSU. Though I have not used all the services available to veterans in this area, I have touched bases with the Veterans Clinic in Eureka, now my primary medical care provider. What I have managed to accomplish in the past several years is a wake-up call to all veterans to take advantage of the services available to us here. As a client of these caring organizations I have been afforded the time to "put a little back" into the community. While working toward my BSW degree I have worked at the county's winter homeless shelter at the Serenity Inn and to work as an assistant counselor at the Lee Brown/Bonnie Brown Residential Treatment Programs in Eureka. Both are operated by the Alcohol Drug Care Services of Eureka. I have also gone back to Veterans Upward Bound for my senior year internship as one of their academic advisors. I put in some time each day at the North Coast Veterans Resource Center answering phones and acting as their receptionist in the mornings, then go to Food for People where I'm site supervisor for their Summer Lunch Program for children. The veteran's services of Humboldt County have allowed me the opportunity to turn my life around. It has provided me with new goals and given me the tools to accomplish these goals. I heartily endorse any and all of these programs to veterans who have honorably served their country. In honor you served, and in honor you can still be of service to yourselves and to the communities you live and work within. Keith Henson lives in Eureka. Veterans resources North Coast Veterans Resource Center, 442-4322 Redwoods Vet Center, 444-8271, counseling services |
Senior News