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Help for a Young Veteran


Deltric Davis, one of the veterans at the Garfield House facility, is 29 and served two years in the Army on the front lines in Iraq. After having an epileptic seizure, he received an early honorable discharge. After leaving the military, he lost his direction. He briefly attended Southern University and had a temporary job assisting with the BP Deepwater horizon cleanup efforts, but by November 2011 he was homeless, jobless and living on the streets.

Deltric sought help and was able to come to Garfield House, Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge’s transitional housing program for homeless veterans. He is on track to graduate from a local technical college with a degree in computer networking. With Volunteers of America’s job placement assistance program, hopes are high that Deltric will soon have the skills and the confidence to make a successful transition back into the community.

Volunteers of America Baton Rouge, through the generous support of The Home Depot Foundation, will be creating a recreational room out of an unused garage space at Garfield House. The new recreational room will give veterans like Deltric a place where they can gather socially, have residents’ meetings with staff, learn cooking skills, exercise to improve physical health, promote family reunification with family activities, and use the computer to search for jobs, practice computer skills, email family and friends, and complete homework assignments.