A couple nights a week, I'm at the office when the janitor comes through. He's a personable guy. We chat.

He's a vet, having done a couple tours in the sandbox - Desert Storm, Desert Shield, etc.. He's also a former police officer, with a degree in criminal justice. On top of that, he's into graphic and web design, working with Adobe Illustrator, and such.

And he's living in a piece of [censored], barely running, 1995 Mercedes C-class with a buddy.

I had no idea.

He's got a badge and on the police reserves, but that doesn't pay anything and they never call him.
He's interviewed for a couple graphic/web design jobs, but they tell him - without a degree in it - they're looking for a college student.

If he gets a job too far from where he and his buddy (who owns the car, has a small retirement, and plans on bailing the minute he lands a job) sleep at night (behind a grocery store, parked by the dumpsters), he's got no real way to get to work. Dude with the car was his roommate, but decided he didn't want to sign a lease because he's planning on moving out of state or something, so they had to move out.

Dude just told me this was 45 days ago and he hasn't had a shower or slept in a real bed in 3 weeks. He's trying to sleep in the passenger seat of a worn out C-class. Since the backseat is full of clothes and such. He's using wet-naps to clean himself up.

Again, I had no idea.

I don't know what I hope to achieve by posting this, but you guys have always been super helpful to me. Not like we can just magically make an old, reliable D50 with a camper shell materialize out of thin air, but maybe somebody here knows somebody who needs a security guard, graphic designer, or even long term handy man or something.

This guy deserves a step up. And it's clear to me he's willing to earn it. Would be super awesome if posting this somehow got him out of the car, maybe a $7-$10/hr job, a chance to stretch out in an actual bed at night and catch a hot shower in the morning to feel like he hasn't been completely discarded.

Open to any ideas, leads, anyone here might have.

Thanks.

City of mesa has a refueler/garbage can delivery job, no experience needed, just a clean background and a license. Him being a Vet and former cop would probably have his pick at the job. Pays $14 per hour plus benefits, 4 10 hour shifts, pension bla bla bla.
I'm sure from there we could park a certain roller Montero in a clever spot for him to live in until he can get on his feet and source a good 2.6 to be able to move.


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Brian, Good of you to notice this guy's situation, be a good listener, and have enough compassion to post this to the board. A housing alternative might be an older used motor home or travel trailer; only catch is he would need to park it at someones house. RV park rent is quite high. If you can find someone willing to let him park a rig, hook up to water, power, etc. then I could contribute to the cost of an RV. Once he is on his feet, the unit could be sold, and the $ either gifted to him, or distributed to the original investors...Here's a real cheapie: http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/rvs/4710631373.html
There's many others in the 2K dollar range that would keep someone safe and comfortable for some time.
Let us know if this might be an alternative.

The friend of anyone with civil service:

USAJobs.gov

There are 57 jobs in the general Phoenix area as of tonight.

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You know me, I never go against political correctness. But the bottom line is vets have so many resources available to them, it is staggering, and has become discriminatory against everyone else. One reason I shut down my prior business was the few remaining construction projects were reserved for only vets. On top of that LE is worshiped like gods in today's society...
My guess if he is in that situation there must be some mental illness issues that need to be addressed?

Or a sketchy past keeping him from being considered for employment, vets are preferred for these gov jobs so long as they pass a background check.

[quote

Or a sketchy past keeping him from being considered for employment, vets are preferred for these gov jobs so long as they pass a background check. [/quote]

Or a guy that's simply fallen through the cracks, and is tired of all the hoops the gov. makes folks jump through.Only hope you don't have to deal with the B.S. that these returning vets have to...too many times we think the resources are there, only to learn that the red tape makes an easy task difficult.

I've passed along the feedback, gents. Thanks.

Haven't been on the board much lately, but thank you Brian for posting this up. As a Desert Storm veteran myself, I can surely sympathize with this guys situation.

I can tell you from experience that simply being a veteran is just not enough to find a good job. I have a ton of experience in my field, but when it fell flat I found myself unemployed for over 9 months this past year. Almost lost my home, blah, blah, blah. Applied to well over 100 jobs in that 9 month period with very few interviews. Sometimes a guy just needs a hand to get through a rough patch. I'm still trying to get back on my feet, but if I can help in any way please let me know.