tim57

Dear Members of the Disabled Veterans of America: I am concerned about the poor treatment of some of our veterans at the Volunteers of America Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter. Please bear with me as I shed some light on this concern, and seek your help in righting this wrong. As you probably know, the Veterans Administration Medical Center leases one of its buildings to Volunteers of America, which operates its own independent community homeless shelter. Volunteers of America is under... Read Full Story

Welcome to the Volunteers of America Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter. We are glad you are here, but, please don’t bother us while we are working. We realize that you might be from a background that makes it difficult for you to follow every little rule. In order to make your stay here as short and un-troubling as possible, we have a spate of rules that we show you on paper, another rash of additional rules scotch-taped to the walls and doors, and a flood of decrees that are hidden in the... Read Full Story

The other day a friend of mine rhetorically asked, “Why is it that you find so many people in the people-helping professions the most cynical and bitter toward the people they are supposed to be helping?” I don’t know, but he got me to thinking. In my own experience, I have known a teacher who disliked children, a businesswoman who disliked customers, a welfare worker who resents the poor, a pastor who had no patience with people who had spiritual problems, and, now most certainly, a homeless... Read Full Story

I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Veterans Health Administration has reported back that the Volunteers of America Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter is considered “in compliance” with the VA Per Diem Grant Program. On May 30, I received a letter from U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, in which he forwarded to me a copy of the report he received from the VA. The gist of the report is that the shelter is fine, and that I am more than likely unstable. They discovered that I am not a veteran... Read Full Story

The young man who I reluctantly took to the abusive VOA Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter called me last week and asked for help. I had left him my card when I let him off at the shelter, telling him that there would come a day, soon, when he could no longer bear the director and at least one of her staff. The day came, and he called from the library last Saturday. I met him there and drove him to the bus station for a ticket to Rapid City. When I asked him what had happened at the shelter... Read Full Story

A while back a friend called me to say he had met a guy at a gas station who was looking for the local homeless shelter. “He needs a ride up there,” he said. My friend didn’t have a vehicle. I have given him a few lifts, and he opted to call me to help out this other guy. I met the guy that wanted to go to the shelter, and talked to him for a while. I told him I really had mixed feelings about taking him to the shelter because the director is a mean-spirited megalomaniac, and he was unlikely... Read Full Story

I see where a former Volunteers of America program director of the local drug testing division is forming her own drug testing services. She is actually going to certify her people according to Federal Department of Transportation regulations for the use of breath test equipment. This is something that Volunteers of America has not gotten around to doing. It was deemed too expensive. I mentioned this to the DOT, and we have been emailing back and forth for some time. Apparently, the DOT is... Read Full Story

It finally happened. I saw the woman who directs the homeless shelter face-to-face at Wal-mart Saturday. It was bound to happen sooner or later, as Sheridan is not a vast metropolis where you can get lost in the crowd. Someone in the crowd usually knows your mom, taught you in school, knows your daughter, or just knows your car. It was she and her husband and maybe an offspring. She was all smiles and said, “Tim, how AAARRRE you.” “Fine.” “We sure miss you at the shelter.” “Oh, you do not,” I... Read Full Story

Sheridan Shelter Song To the tune of “The Beverly Hillbillies” Come and listen to a story ‘bout man named Fred, Asked the Sheridan shelter if they could spare a bed. He was told he could stay and could eat the shelter food, but from that point on he was treated pretty rude. Like soil, that is. Vexed was he. Well, the next thing ya know He was treated less than fair. The director always spoke With a condescending air. She tripled his load Of his worries and his strife, He didn’t know that her... Read Full Story

A former homeless veteran called me last week and said he needed help in his apartment. I was happy to oblige ... ... But I also wondered where the VOA Homeless Shelter was with the follow-up on veterans who leave the shelter and find appropriate housing. Their Per Diem grant requires this kind of follow-up. Not happening. The Federal Government grants them more than $26 per day per veteran. The average vet-per-day count is supposed to stay around 16. Where's my calculator ... that's more... Read Full Story