NEWPORT NEWS -- In 2004, Doctor Mickey Collins and her husband, Waverly, founded Malachi House International, Inc. in 2004 as a training and educational organization to help people who were poor or homeless build better lives for themselves. One piece was missing: housing. In 2008, the Collinses found a way to supply the piece. They applied for a grant through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and got it.
"The sad commentary," says Collins, "are that these people have really put their life out there on the line for all of us, and, then, they come back, and what's available for them?"
With the grant money, Malachi House was able to purchase properties where former military members could live as they received help for post-traumatic stress (when needed), as well as career/job training while they searched for employment. All of the veterans receiving assistance are women, among the estimated 6,500 female veterans who are homeless.
"Looking at the Hampton Roads area, looking at being at war, looking at the number of women that were really going into the military, we just knew that there was a need," Collins tells 13News.
"Tammy" is a vet who lives at Malachi House. The former soldier, who was hurt twice while in the Army, deals with stress and takes more than a dozen pills daily.
"In my situation, I can't work, so that's why I'm struggling, and I'm waiting for an appeal from the VA and Social Security," explains Tammy. "I would love to have my own place, to be able to pay my own bills, to be able to kick back in my own living room."
"Lisa" is a Navy veteran who shares the house with Tammy. She also is the mother of a two-year-old son who lives with them.
"Working closer to a full-time job, I see that coming," Lisa says. "You can't just sit off and kind of be depressed. You have to get up and keep on moving, because the world's not gonna stop."
"The face of homelessness has changed," Collins notes. "Ran into a situation where one lady was in the military, came home, had a great job, was downsized. Had credentials, thought that she could get a job, and couldn't get a job, and, then, she found herself being homeless."
"I just want people to know," begins Tammy, "that it's women out here that are struggling. Don't just pass 'em by. Don't judge. Just look at us as people."
