At a Crossroads

Army Veteran Finds the Right Road
This past June, Steve, a US Army veteran, was struggling through a marital separation when he lost his job without warning. He had been a welder for a local manufacturingplant for the past ten years. With no idea what to do next, he remembered a former co-worker talking about City Mission’s Crabtree Kovacicek Veterans House, and he decided to give it a try.
“It’s been a blessing ever since,” he explained. “I thank this place for providing stability for me. I was at a crossroads, and they helped me find the right road.”
Steve grew up in Houston, PA. His mom was a single mother raising eight kids. After he graduated from high school in 1982, he went into the Army for three years of active duty. “I saw combat and jumped out of airplanes,” he said of his military experience. He also trained to be a medic, which was a difficult job, but he thought at least it would transition into a good career after the military. Unfortunately, he was never able to get a job in the medical field.
Eventually, after the military, he moved with a friend to Atlanta, pursuing a job opportunity at a liquor warehouse. “It wasn’t a good place to be,”he said. “I was young. Alcohol led to drugs. That’s where my life spiraled.”
To get clean, he moved back home. He went to rehab a few times but was never really focused, and he had to fight for his sobriety for decades. He has been clean now for seven years.
When he came to City Mission, he was curious but cautious. Everyone turned out to be much friendlier and more helpful than he expected. “I didn’t think guys would listen to my story and be so willing to help,” he said. “Guys were listening and advising but not telling me what to do. I realized my story isn’t the only one. I related with everybody here. I started to relax and open up.”
City Mission’s Crabtree Kovacicek Veterans House set him up with counseling through the Vet Center and helped him get funds to go back to school and earn his Commercial Driver’s License. The Mission drove him back and forth to school at Penn Commercial Technical School so he didn’t have to worry about getting a ride. After six weeks, he graduated from the program, and he’s now considering multiple job offers.
“The trucking field is so in demand right now,” he explained. “People aren’t shopping in stores. Things are being delivered. I’m looking at so many options.”
Recently, Steve was able to land a good job in the truckingindustry. He successfully moved out of the Mission and is waiting to begin the next phase of his training out on the road.
“I’m proud of myself,” Steve said. “The Mission taught me to stop rushing into everything – to focus on a goal and go for it. They showed me things, but I did it. They led me to water, but I drank on my own. Coming to the Mission is not putting yourself down. It’s an opportunity to better yourself. If you could see how I feel because of what I’ve been able to accomplish, anybody would want to do this.”