Lifting up veterans

“It only took three months to lose everything I had.” 

Those were the words of Billy Manning, 39, and Will Hadley, 62, and many more. 

Manning, an Air Force and Army reserve veteran, and Hadley, a Navy vet from the Vietnam era, both found themselves living on the streets of Birmingham, but with the help of Three Hots & A Cot Veterans Centers, they are no longer homeless. 

“This is truly a great place, and a godsend,” Manning said. “They literally saved my life. … If it weren’t for them, I don’t know where I’d be.” 

Three Hots & A Cot (3HAC) serves homeless veterans out of its facilities in Woodlawn and in Clay, at 2124 Old Springville Road, and is geared toward helping them reclaim independence.

Manning turned to drugs last year after the death of his father. His permanent guardian status of his son was stripped away, and he lost all he had. After a few months on the street, he went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Birmingham and was referred to Three Hots & A Cot. 

“We tell them when they get here, the day they move in is the day they need to start preparing to move out of here. They’re not going to move back out onto the street. They’re going to move back out into something that was better than what they came from,” said Rich Cislak, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer. 

Three Hots & A Cot began out of a call to action after J.D. Simpson, the organization’s president, saw homeless veterans on benches at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 2009. He and Cislak, both veterans living in northern Virginia at the time, had been looking for a change of career from truck driving. 

“When we heard homeless veterans, we thought, ‘Nah, that can’t be true.’ We had to do something about it, but we had no clue what we were getting into,” Cislak said. 

The duo went to the VA to ask where the biggest need was and were directed to Birmingham. In July 2010, they opened an eight-bed center in Woodlawn called the Saint Benedict Veterans Center and then purchased a foreclosed nursing home on Old Springville Road for $10, to turn it into what is now the 13-bed Clay Veterans Center. Both centers’ beds have been full since. 

The number of homeless vets in Alabama has declined by 75 percent since 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report. In 2017, 269 homeless veterans were reported in Alabama, down from more than 370 in 2016 — the fifth-largest decline by a state in that time. 3HAC has played a part in that decline. 

Nearly 1,200 veterans, both male and female, and family members have been placed in the 3HAC program from all across Alabama and as far away as California and New York. Ages range from those in their 20s returning from overseas to those in their 70s.

“Every resident is different. You never know what expect until they get here,” Cislak said. “They’re struggling with various issues, mental illness, alcoholism, drug issues, PTSD, all of it.”

3HAC has seen an 85 percent success rate, according to Cislak, with more than 925 moving on to independent living, being reunited with family or entering another VA program. Another 40 veterans are in transitional housing or one of five 3HAC-owned independent houses. However, more than 200 have been dropped from the program by request or failure to comply.

“Some guys come here because they’re just tired of sleeping on the street, but they haven’t hit rock bottom yet,” Cislak said. “The others who are really, really serious, you know after a couple of weeks. They start opening up and sometimes that is the best therapy for the other people in the house.”

Manning said it was peer counseling that helped him, including conversations with Hadley about coping with his father’s death, losing his son and focusing on the future. Today, Manning resides at the 3HAC Clay Veterans Center as the house manager, a staff position. 

“It’s challenging me to achieve my own goals and help everybody else,” said Manning, whose goal is simply to keep moving forward. “I love the interaction. It’s like they’re family. … Knowing that I can help them get past whatever that issue is, is very satisfying.”

Hadley’s story related to Manning. He’d lost everything within three months of failing a physical, which cost him his job as a truck driver. He started living in his minivan in Birmingham before finding the Saint Benedict Center, but he was one of those who broke the rules and was dropped. He was back on the street, this time in a tent. 

“It’s a dangerous place to live. I wasn’t ready for that,” said Hadley, who suffered a heart attack while on the street and had to have triple bypass surgery. “It became unbearable. You get hungry out there.” 

“I walked into the VA hospital and said, ‘I’m homeless. I hear there’s programs.’ I was sick of it,” he said.

The VA sent Hadley to the Clay facility, where he spent six months after entering a PTSD program in Tuscaloosa. Today, Handley returns to volunteer and meet with other vets as a success story. 

“What Three Hots & A Cot did is they treat you with respect and give you every opportunity to make it and get the help you need,” Hadley said. “You’re responsible for yourself, but they’ll guide you along … You feel like you’re no longer at the bottom of the barrel. They lift you up. You feel like somebody cares.”

That is what Hadley aims to do as an alumnus. 

“I do whatever I can now to support other veterans that come by. I tell them, ‘I was messed up, too. You can come out of this.’ We’re pretty open about our problems we may have had at one time or another,” he said.

The Clay Veterans Center aims to provide at minimum what was given in the Army: three hot meals a day and a bed. The facility has both single and double rooms, with beds, storage, a desk and closet space. There are two residential wings — Liberty Hall and Freedom Hall — a dining space, media space and plenty of outdoor seating. 

Local Boy Scouts groups helped build a large pavilion out back with picnic tables, as well as a memorial with military service flags in the front yard. Home Depot stores and the Home Depot Foundation also have helped renovate the outdoor space, including a deck with a ramp, a weight bench, basketball court and fire pit. 

A van is provided to take residents to the VA for appointments and programs, while some Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings may take place on-site. The Clay Veterans Center is located away from the city and bus routes by design. 

“We knew we needed a place away from the bad things in life that trigger what’s wrong with these guys,” Cislak said. 

The nonprofit thrives on donations and fundraisers. Key sponsors have included local churches, the Cahaba Valley Elks, Home Depot and AT&T Pioneers, to name a few, as well as local VFWs, American Legions and motorcycle veterans groups. However, Cislak said one of the biggest needs is raising money to pay the bills, which they do through monthly meal fundraisers, cookouts and other large fundraisers. 

The center hopes to create the Walk of Heroes this fall — a sidewalk around the property with photos of veterans on banners hanging from light poles. 

To learn more about Three Hots & A Cot, visit cotsforvets.org or follow Three Hots & A Cot on Facebook.