Once homeless, ex-Marine finds survival, existence, hope

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth piece in a four-part series focusing on homeless in Hopkinsville. To read the first three installments, look for the links attached to this story on the left side of the webpage.


For three years, Jay Mountjoy lived outside Nashville in a makeshift camp in the woods with five strangers.

It wasn’t an episode of “Survivor,” the hit reality TV show that pits contestants’ survival skills against one another. For the Illinois native, the daily effort to find food, water and shelter was his reality, a reality he describes as a matter of life, death and everyday existence.

The 56-year-old Marine veteran, who now lives at the Pennyroyal Veterans Center in Hopkinsville, says he barely remembers much of what happened in the homeless camp.

He’s tried to forget the memories — the alcohol abuse that blurred the days into nights, the panhandling that paid for more alcohol than food and the winter nights with little relief from the cold — he said caused depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The group shared a tent, a fire pit and sometimes received food and blankets from nearby churches. He recalled living with few belongings.

“It was just a bad way to live, just existing from day to day,” he said. “It was terrible.”

Then on Dec. 5, while at the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center for regular checkup, a staff member called the Pennyroyal Veterans Center in Hopkinsville. They had a bed available, and Mountjoy was transferred there. 

Jeff Broadbent, the center’s director, said the 50-bed shelter helps homeless veterans start over. The center’s outreach coordinator has contacts in surrounding communities to get veterans into the veterans shelter, which has been open for two years.

“When we opened, I didn’t think we could fill it up,” Broadbent said. “I didn’t know homelessness was as prevalent. Now if we had a 100 beds, I don’t think that would be enough.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reported 62,618 veterans were homeless in 2012, putting them at 12 percent of the nation’s total homeless population. Nationwide, the total of homeless veterans is decreasing, but in Kentucky, the trend is going in the opposite direction.

Since 2009, the total number of homeless veterans during a point-in-time survey done in January shows an increase that could bump Kentucky into a top 10 list for the largest population of homeless veterans in the country. Ten percent of Kentucky’s total homeless population identifies themselves as veterans. That’s a 37 percent increase since 2009.

At the Pennyroyal Veteran’s Center, room, board, daily classes in life and living skills, tuition assistance and substance abuse counseling help veterans get back on their feet after various stays of homelessness. The costs are covered by per-diem federal grant funding. Residents are expected to save up for when they are ready leave the shelter and go out on their own.

“I’m a Christian and I believe in the Lord,” Mountjoy said. “I believe he opens doors, but you’ve also got to help yourself and go in the right direction. If you don’t do that, you’re going to be stuck there.”

Mountjoy, who served in the Marines as a field artillery man from 1976 to 1984, finished his enlistment with an honorable discharge, making him eligible for veteran’s benefits.

He said he moved back to his hometown in Illinois after the service and spent a brief time tending to his dying father in Fort Myers, Fla., while bartending at a supper club near Sanibel Island, Fla. When his father passed away, Mountjoy moved back to Illinois to take care of his mother. She sold the family farm, and they lived on the income from the sale until she died in 1990. He took a few odd jobs and a few psychology classes at Lincoln Land Community College. In 2000, he landed a job as a manager of a Salvation Army distribution center.

The nonprofit job didn’t pay much, but it allowed him to feel like he was making a difference, a purpose to life he lost 10 years later, along with his only source of income, as his position was cut.

“Downsizing,” he said.

Fifty-four years old and already living paycheck to paycheck, Mountjoy found it hard to find another job. He said he packed up a few belongings and moved to Nashville in search of an old friend, but the contact information he had was out of date.

“Sorry, no one by that name lives here,” he recalled being told when he came to town.

“A lot of guys here, including myself, have a lot to offer, but this world today… it’s different. It’s constantly changing,” he said.

Meeting people and helping them are what give Mountjoy’s life meaning.

In Nashville, he said, he met people from Poland, Germany and China. The diverse group of people he met and liveliness of the downtown scene is something Mountjoy said he’d like to go back to in the next year or two.

Eventually though, Mountjoy said, he hopes to retire somewhere on a Florida beach.

“It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant,” he said. “Just something clean where I could spend a lot of time helping people. It’s hard to plan for a big future at my age, but I’d like to … get some kind of degree and help people.”

Mountjoy said he’s close to finally finishing his associate’s degree in psychology. His paperwork for disability payments has been submitted to the VA. He’s completed substance abuse counseling for alcohol addiction at the center and said his life is back on track.

“This place really gave me hope and the courage to carry on,” he said. “There’s a lot of my life left to be lived and a lot of good things to be done.”

Reach Margarita Cambest at 270-887-3231 or mcambest@kentuckynewera.com.

 

Resources for Homeless Vets

Recent statistics show ex-servicemen make up about 43 percent of all homeless men in the U.S. In Kentucky, rates of homelessness among the veteran population have increased since 2009, opposite a national trend that shows a decrease in the total homeless population nationwide. These are some organizations that offer help for homeless veterans in Christian County.

Supportive Services for Homeless Veteran Families Program — Provides grants for nonprofits to place very low-income veterans and their families in permanent housing. In Christian County, call 270-886-7171.

Pennyroyal Veterans Center — Helps homeless veterans save up for a fresh start in life. Veterans may live at the center for up to two years, during which time they receive mental health or substance abuse counseling, life and living skills classes and tuition assistance. Call 270-887-5099 for more information.

Hopkinsville VA Outpatient Clinic — A contract clinic offering primary care to veterans in the Hopkinsville area. Call 270-885-2106 for more information.

Source: National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Department of Housing and Urban Development

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