Up & Out of Homelessness:  A Veteran's Story

Jerry McKoy has an engaging personality.  He speaks fast with confidence and authority.  The military honed those skills.   Jerry was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  He made Sergeant rank in 19 months and served active duty for four years.  For three years, he served in Europe, acting as the noncombatant evacuation operations head for his battalion.  He completed 2 years in the reserves before entering the civilian workforce.

Jerry quickly climbed the employment ladder as well, rising to site supervisor in charge of 70 security officers at a Fayetteville hospital.  Life at home was also going well.  He had a “family,” as he puts it, “a wife and kids with three cars and a home we owned.”  Over the next several years, Jerry’s battle with drugs and alcohol would cause him to lose everything.

By mid-2005, Jerry’s self-destruction was “totally out of hand.”  His wife divorced him after 11 years of marriage.  His relationship with his children crumbled.  He lost everything but a truck given to him by a family member.  He drove to Myrtle Beach and spent nearly four months living out of his vehicle. 

It took a long time for Jerry to become homeless, but his “moment of clarity” came in an instant.  One morning, he drove to the beach and went for a swim.  He says during that morning swim, it became clear that he’d had enough.

Jerry drove straight to the Myrtle Beach VA clinic.  But, the clinic was closing.  The receptionist directed him to the Ralph Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston. “I only have $4,” he told her.  She asked him to wait while she took up a $75 collection from her coworkers.  He says he will never forget that kind gesture, nor how hard it was to use it for the gas to get to Charleston.

At the VA in Charleston, Jerry received supportive services but still needed a place to live.   For that, he was directed to Crisis Ministries.

After spending his first night in the Men’s dorm, Jerry met Willie Collier, Crisis Ministries’ Director of Veterans Services.  A veteran himself, Willie shares Jerry’s pointed demeanor.  “I have a bed for you in the Trans Dorm, McKoy,” he said, “if you can pass a drug test.”  Jerry’s says he shot it straight with Willie from the beginning.  The drugs he’d used in Myrtle Beach would still be present.  “I’m going to take a chance on you, McKoy, because you look serious,” Willie told him.

For the next four months, Jerry lived in the Trans Dorm at Crisis Ministries with 13 other men.  Every week and sometimes more often, Jerry passed Willie’s drug test.  In a short time, Jerry started looking for work. 

A temporary service placed him in a labor foreman position. While there, he met a superintendent for The Muhler Company who seemed very interested in offering him a job.  But he had a familiar question for Jerry:  “Can you pass a drug test?”  He answered with a confident yes and has been working in a full-time permanent position with Muhler ever since.

Jerry moved into a North Charleston apartment in September.  His 15-year old son moved in with him.  Jerry says he is enjoying getting to know his son again.  They are spending a lot of time fishing and crabbing.