Homeless Veterans Need Your Help

NEARLY NEW Furniture Needed for Harkness House

  What is The Homefront and Harkness House?

Seabee Rob Salisbury and the New Haven Elks
Raise Over $600

In Their Own Words

NEARLY NEW Furniture Needed
To Open Harkness House

If you have any of these items in excellent condition, please contact Sara Warfield at swarfield@columbushouse.org or 203-401-4400, ext. 116.

Thanks so much for your support!

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What is The Homefront and Harkness House?

The Homefront is an initiative to address the needs of Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who are experiencing homelessless. Harkness House is the key component to this effort. It's house, a refuge for veterans who have nowhere to go and need support and reconnection.

Veterans can live at the house for up to two years as they address the causes of their homelessness. The house is divided into apartments where the men will live together and receive support from both trained staff and each other.

The Homefront's goals include:

• Providing stable housing
• Encouraging veterans to pursue higher levels of education and vocational training
• Fostering self-determination
• Reintegrating veterans back into their communities
• Freeing up space in the already overcrowded shelters

With the help of a dedicated volunteer committee, we have begun a comprehensive, grassroots fundraising initiative to raise the remaining $110,000 needed to open The Homefront in January. (Columbus House has already secured $310,861 from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and another $50,000 through the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund.)

Many groups and individuals have conducted fundraisers or have made outright contributions. Corporate donations and grants are also being sought.

If you would like to help, please consider telling a friend, holding a fundraiser or making a contribution right now.

Together, we can help those who sacrificed so much for us.

Click Here to Make a Donation to The Homefront

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Seabee Rob Salisbury and the New Haven Elks Raise Over $600 for The Homefront

Rob Salisbury, a Seabee in the US Navy and an active member of the New Haven Elks, learned about Columbus House's efforts to open a program specifically for homeless veterans and he made a commitment to get involved.

Rob coordinated an event at the New Haven Elks Lodge on a Friday night in July. He solicited food donations, raffle prizes and a DJ to provide entertainment for those attending. He created informational flyers and distributed our brochures to the membership.

He encouraged people to attend or to make a financial contribution even if they couldn’t make it. Rob ended up with around 50 guests. They had a great time while supporting a worthy cause.

Rob’s efforts netted Columbus House over $600 for The Homefront through ticket and raffle sales. But Rob didn’t stop there. He is now collaborating with a representative from the American Legion Post in West Haven to put on a Poker Run sometime before the end of the summer.

We still need to raise around $110,000 to complete renovations to the building that will house homeless veterans. Rob’s selfless efforts got us one step closer to opening The Homefront.

If you would like to host a fundraiser with your group, civic organization, church, school or just with family and friends, please let us know and we can help you with your plans.

Make a Donation in Honor of Rob and the New Haven Elks

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In Their Own Words 

Hundreds of homeless veterans have come through Columbus House's doors since the shelter was opened in 1982. Our case managers work with the Veterans Administration to make sure that each of them receives the support he or she needs.

These are the stories of just a few veterans who came to Columbus House for help.

Bobby
“If there’s a way I can do it, I’ll do it.
I don’t want to depend on other people.”

The salt and pepper hair is only a small clue that Bobby has been through a lot in his life. He was once an independent, driven man who somehow lost it all. But even after some difficult times, his eyes are youthful and compassionate.
 
Bobby joined the Marine Corps. in 1977 and completed a tour of duty that took him around the globe to places such as Greece, Holland, Spain, Italy and Wales. After three years in the Marines, he was honorably discharged.
 
After the military, Bobby worked various jobs. He was as a cook at a deli in New Haven and then a manager at a grocery store. However, an undiagnosed mental illness made it difficult to conduct his work day-to-day. Eventually his hours were cut, and he was no longer making enough money to cover rent or to pay his bills.

So Bobby put his possessions in storage and began living on the streets. He was homeless from 1999 to 2006. He would sleep on the floor at his sister’s house some nights. The rest of the time, he usually slept under store fronts and outside churches.

Occasionally he stayed at either the Immanuel Baptist shelter or the Columbus House Overflow shelter.

“I lost all of my independence,” he said. “But I didn’t have a choice.”

Bobby was working at Labor Ready as a day laborer when an outreach worker tracked him down and referred him to Legion Woods. His name was put on a waiting list and he was soon accepted to be one of the original residents at Legion Woods. That was in 2006 and Bobby has lived at Legion Woods ever since.

Last year, Bobby was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia. He’s taking medication and living a safe, stable life.

“We’re all trying to make it better for ourselves,” he said. “It’s getting better for me.”

Bobby is currently looking for a part-time job to regain more of his independence and find his way “back to a productive life.”

“If there’s a way I can do it, I’ll do it,” he said. “I don’t want to depend on other people.”

Mr. Topaz
Lieutenant, CPA, Homeless: An Unlikely Story

Mr. Topaz is a living example of “it can happen to anyone.” He was a Certified Public Accountant at a major accounting firm. He went on to serve in the Navy, working his way up from seaman to Lieutenant in the Navy. And, in spite of his successes, he ended up at Columbus House.

Mr. Topaz grew up in Middletown, New York, and graduated from Iona College. From there, he found a job at a prestigious accounting firm in New York City. He went on to serve in the Navy from 1967 and 1972 and was stationed overseas in Newfoundland during the Vietnam War. After he was discharged from the military, he returned home and worked out of his firm’s Hartford office.

Then Mr. Topaz decided to strike out on his own. In 1991, he started his own CPA practice in Fairfield. He found himself burning out after working too many 100-hour weeks. Eventually, he sold the business to pursue another passion: books.

It was early in his book-selling days that the depression hit. Undiagnosed, it plagued him daily.

"It left me listless," he said. "I had no energy or desire to run the business properly." He wasn’t selling many books from the shop he owned in Fairfield.

"I had to rely on my own resources to keep the business open," he said, so the bills started to pile up. He couldn't keep up with his rent and was kicked out of his apartment.

The once-successful CPA found himself on the streets.

With nowhere else to go, Mr. Topaz made his way to Q-house, temporary shelter for the homeless at the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven. When he had stayed the maximum time there, the VA referred him to Columbus House.

While the shelter wasn’t an ideal place to stay, “it was better than sleeping on the lawn somewhere,” he said.

Mr. Topaz worked his way through the services at Columbus House, from the emergency shelter to transitional housing on the second floor, and into the On The Move program on the 3rd floor.

He was assigned to Tony, a Columbus House case manager. Tony worked with Mr. Topaz to find him an apartment at Legion Woods where he has lived ever since.

Mr. Topaz collects his VA pension instead of social security because of the healthcare the VA provides. His depression is currently under control and he walks on the treadmill whenever he gets a chance.

Mr. Topaz spends his days writing on his 11 blogs (ranging from political topics to literary criticism to thoughts on operas), writing short stories and poems, listening to his music collection, reading books and working on his science fiction novel. He is also the President of the Tenant Organization at Legion Woods.

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Your financial donation goes
directly to The Homefront.

We must raise
$110,000 to open
The Homefront.