Veterans Day: Columbus vet finds housing and path forward after years battling addiction
Aaron Grady, a 39-year-old Army veteran, found a subsidized apartment in August. He's one of thousands of veterans in need who Volunteers of America helps every year between Ohio and Indiana.
On the heels of 9/11, Aaron Grady entered the United States Army guided not only by a heightened sense of patriotism, but by a desire to escape his own demons.
Drugs proliferated the streets where Grady was raised, a "very rough neighborhood" in Newark, he said, where even at a young age, Grady fell victim to their hold. At 18, in 2002, Grady joined the Army with dreams of defending a country that had just been attacked while also eradicating the specter of his drug use.
It didn't go as planned.
Grady underwent basic training, but when he moved on to advanced individual training, he injured himself. The injury was an ACL tear, meaning Grady’s dreams of military service had come to an end.
“I was disappointed in myself for not stretching right, for not running right, not taking care of myself properly,” said Grady, now 39.
When he left the Army in 2003 after being discharged with honorable conditions, Grady's life took a turn for the worse when he soon found himself lured back into using drugs.
Grady studied forensic science for two years between 2011 and 2013 at the Central Ohio Technical College before dropping out due to his drug use. And the ensuing years that Grady has spent battling addiction and struggling with depression have been marred by two marriages and two divorces, stints in rehab and prison for drug-related offenses, and time living in a tent in the woods of Newark.
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But when he was released from a prison term in July in Licking County for drug trafficking and possession, Grady was referred to veterans services offered by Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana. There he became one of hundreds of veterans in the Greater Columbus Area each year who receive assistance from the nonprofit agency for services for unemployment, substance abuse and homelessness.
Grady was connected with a case manager and was provided the financial assistance that allowed him to move into a subsidized apartment in August on Columbus’ East Side. Volunteers of America assisted with his rent and the security deposit, and it also provided him with a bed and other basic items, said Isaac Barton, program director for the VOA's Columbus veterans program.
“I was comfortable in the woods,” Grady said. “But to have (housing) was a step in the right direction to keep me off of drugs and keep me focused on what’s important in life.”
Volunteers of America has offered such programs to low-income military veterans who are facing homelessness since 1992, according to its website. And it touts itself as the leading human services provider to homeless veterans in cities that include Columbus — where more than 400 veterans received services from VOA in 2021 — as well as Cincinnati and Cleveland.
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The housing program, operated in conjunction with other support services, offers veterans a range of housing options, including affordable housing and emergency shelter beds, said LaRaun Clayton, interim vice president of veterans and housing for Volunteers of American Indiana & Ohio. Some veterans can purchase or improve their home with a housing loan from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, while others require emergency housing or permanent supportive housing.
“There’s a host of other needs that may be unmet, so to wrap those services around the individual, we’re going to be working toward a greater outcome,” said Clayton, himself a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve who spent 15 months of his 10 years of service serving in Iraq. “Where Volunteers of America really helps to bridge that gap and provide that linkage of services is really understanding what might be available to an individual and working to get them connected to those services.”
Such services are funded through community donations and through a portion of retail sales at VOA thrift stores across the country, said Robert Campbell Jr., senior vice president of retail operations for Volunteers of America Indiana & Ohio.
In the last 18 months, Volunteers of America has renovated many of its thrift stores, including relocating the VOA Thrift store on Henderson Road to the end unit of the shopping plaza to add more shopping square footage and easier donation access with a drive up donation area.
Volunteers of America brought in $18 million in sales in Ohio when those renovations began, but the agency reports that revenue is projected to increase by nearly 10% this year, with 100% of the proceeds from donated items purchased at thrift stores going to fund the VOA’s supportive services that include veterans programs. Leaders at VOA said the goal is to increase revenue an additional 40% in the next seven years (2022 to 2029) while nearly doubling the amount of thrift stores open in the region in order to help reach more people in need.
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“It’s important for us to help our fellow man, and the populations we help — veterans, families — it’s our heart to help them and give them the resources and support they need,” Campbell said. “A lot of people don’t know what their dollars do, and we need to share the message.”
Having housing has given someone like Aaron Grady the stability he needed to reevaluate his life and focus on his goals. Although he's only been in the apartment for three short months, he already has his sights set on the next phase of his life: returning home.
After losing his last job when he said health concerns caused him to miss too much work, Grady is in the process of looking for employment in Newark.
His hope in moving back to his hometown is to be near his remaining family and also his girlfriend. The couple has only been together a month, but Grady said they've known each other for nearly their entire lives, giving them a solid foundation of friendship and support.
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“You can take everything you learn and as long as you put forth the effort to do what you gotta do," Grady said, "you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
Eric Lagatta is a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch covering social justice issues and nonprofits.
elagatta@dispatch.com
@EricLagatta