From The Streets To Stability: The Life-Changing Support Of SSVF For Homeless Veterans

As the nation celebrates and appreciates our veterans on Veterans Day, there are several groups that work every day to help some of those heroes who desperately need our attention.

“The program itself has been in Oklahoma, I want to say about fourteen to fifteen years,” said Clint Eversole, Case Manager with SSVF.

SSVF is Supportive Services for Veteran Families, a program to help veterans who are experiencing homelessness or the threat of homelessness, which is a growing problem. “Over the past six months we’ve been busier, and when I say busier, we have serviced more veterans back-to-back than any other time in the past three years,” said Eversole.

Helping veterans like Corri Snyder, “Times got hard, my PTSD, anxiety, depression, and being bipolar kicked in,” said veteran Corri Snyder.

Snyder served in the Army from 2001 to 2004 and once on the streets, his challenges were magnified. “I ended up having a seizure, about a month after being homeless and died for about five minutes. Yeah, it was rough,” said Snyder.  

Snyder was homeless for almost two years. “They feel abandoned by their own country to be honest, because once you get out, it just feels like there is no help,” said Snyder.

Snyder eventually did get help; through a referral, he met Eversole. “His information came across my desk, what I was told, he was sleeping on a park bench, and he had been there a while,” said Eversole.

“There are no shelters for veterans because veterans won’t go to an actual shelter due to the fact they have PTSD and anxiety,” said Snyder.

Eversole immediately went to work to get Snyder off the streets and into an apartment. “It took maybe a little less than two weeks, he went from sleeping on a park bench to being in his own apartment,” said Eversole.

“It actually felt good. I was actually able to get some sleep, much-needed sleep. Not having to worry about somebody breaking in and not having to worry about somebody stealing my stuff,” said Snyder.

Through SSVF, Snyder now feels appreciated by the country he served.

“There’s hope for all the veterans there are actually people out there that actually do care,” said Snyder.

For information on helping a veteran who is experiencing homelessness, visit www.okvetunited.org.