Ron’s homeless challenge
“Sometimes you get burnt – sometimes you don’t,” is the mantra a social worker with Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System, the parent nonprofit organization of Cumberland County’s Cumberland Mountain Mental Health, has adopted to help battle what’s becoming a growing struggle against homelessness being fought here and all across America.
Ron Rohrbach, a program director with Plateau Mental Health Center’s Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program located in Cookeville, has been engaged in the war against homelessness for several years.
If you ask, he can relate one incident after another where he has offered a helping hand to someone hungry or in need of a place to stay for a night or so.
Sometimes the hand he offers reaps a self-satisfying reward. Perhaps the stranger helped gets a job the next day; gets his or her life in order; and becomes a productive, self sustaining member of the community.
And then, on the other hand, Rohrbach reports that sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and “sometimes you get burnt.”
“But you have to understand this when you’re dealing with people who are homeless. It’s just part of it. Sometimes the help you give can make a huge difference in their life and sometime’s it doesn’t.
“But you have to at least try,” he says, which might explain why he pulls for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, still winless but still trying after 11 weeks.
For the past two years Rohrbach’s battle against homelessness has taken him into the trenches as he’s vacated a comfortable home and made the commitment to live for one week just as the homeless do.
During his stint on the streets earlier this month he slept wherever.
He’d stay one night in his car, two or three chilly evenings in an empty van, and a couple of nights sleeping on a pallet of leaves covered by a sky blue colored plastic tarp in a wooded area not far from his office.
Neither the van nor the temporary overnight accommodations in the woods provided relief Rohrbach says from awaking the next morning to an almost freezing 34 degrees.
But that’s part of his week long experience in getting to know exactly what challenges the homeless face daily.
The Pennsylvania native, who transplanted to the South years ago, works closely with local churches, veteran organizations, civic groups, local government and others trying to help those in the community who are homeless.
Homelessness has become a major local issue, Rohrbach laments, adding that a recent survey conducted in the Cookeville area found homelessness to be the number two concern among residents.
There’s really no such thing as a homeless demographic he says because homelessness touches all ages, both genders, and mixed educational levels.
However, there is one common denominator, most who are homeless, he confides, “have some degree of mental illness.”
“They may be dealing with addiction issues, family troubles, or other personal issues but for one reason or another they are likely challenged by mental health concerns,” he explained.
His week among the homeless he said gives him the opportunity to see firsthand “what they face each day.”
“I have nothing to protect myself with just like most of them and many times feel very vulnerable as I’m sure they do.
“I’m looking over my shoulder a lot,” Rohrbach said noting that he gets lots of stares from passers by when walking the streets that frequently make him uncomfortable.
For example he said he struggled to get much sleep the two nights he spent in the van because he kept thinking about what he might do if someone tried to break-in and attack him.”
Over the two years he’s embarked on his personal homeless mission Rohrbach’s gained considerable information.
He’s found frequently visited sites along I-40, places behind vacant buildings in town, and areas in wooded areas and other places including vacant vehicles and open garages where the homeless may choose to bed down for a night.
He’s learned that the public library is a friend to the homeless because there they can use computers to get on the Internet for messaging to friends and family and can also take advantage of a public restroom and get a welcoming break from the elements of the weather outside.
And he’s programmed himself to get by on a mere $35 for a week, an amount that’s stands as his total allowance for food and shelter.
So many of those who are homeless don’t have to be, Rohrbach says, pointing out that there are a number of programs available for Veterans and others who are “needing a helping hand.”
Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System administers a number of programs that provide assistance to homeless victims including two programs specifically directed for Veterans.
Volunteer’s M.A.S.H (Mission Accomplished: Stable Housing) program provides support to low-income Veteran families through a federal grant originated from the Department of Veterans Affairs. More than 200 veterans are served annually by this program in some 26 counties in Middle and Southeast Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland region.
A second program offered by Volunteer and directed by Rohrbach to help homeless Veterans goes by the acronym VETT (Veterans Employment and Training Tennessee) and is made possible by a Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program grant.
VETT provides job training, counseling and job placement services to homeless and incarcerated Veterans to help expedite their reintegration into the labor force and community.
Rohrbach also said there are other programs that provide assistance for the homeless, who are not necessarily Veterans, including what’s known as a Continuum of Care, a program charged by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that allocates homeless assistance grants to organizations that participate in local homeless assistance program planning networks. Each participating local network is called a Continuum of Care (CoC).
“There are a number of programs available for the homeless. But we can only help those who ask for our help or who are directed to us.
“I would encourage anyone who may read this article to tell their church, their neighbors, and the teachers and administrators in the schools their children attend that there are ways available to help the homeless.
“And if they know of someone homeless to please call our offices.”
