Benefit for Homeless Veterans is This Weekend

Paw Paw’s Firehouse Cafe near Carmine will host Warrior’s Weekend on May 14-15, a big celebration to raise money for Warrior’s Refuge, a nonprofit committed to transforming the lives of homeless veterans.

Several area businesses have already donated money to support the cause. Larry Clack, owner of Paw Paw’s Firehouse, said he decided to hold the fundraiser after meeting some of the veterans who are going through the Warrior’s Refuge program.

“What they are doing is amazing,” Clack said.

The event this weekend includes a barbecue cook off, car show and motorcycle show, motorcycle run, motorcycle raffle, drawings, live music and more. Clack invited the business donors to his place on Thursday for breakfast and a presentation by Warrior’s Refuge executive director Cliff Robertson and community development director Ariel Lara. Both of them are veterans who experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Robertson said more than 100,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in America, and 22 veterans commit suicide every day in this country.

“Those are conservative figures,” he said. “I believe the numbers are even higher.”

Warrior’s Refuge operates out of a former nursing home in West Columbia. The nonprofit offers job training and counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Robertson said many of the veterans his organization serves suffer physical and mental scars from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oftentimes they leave the armed forces without the ability to cope with their experiences.

“There’s no one scenario that causes it all,” Robertson said. “I met one veteran who had an MBA. He lost his wife, fell off the grid, lost everything. One day the Sheriff’s Office came and carried him out of his house and took him to a hospital. That’s where we found him.”

“These are young kids who go into the military,” Lara said. “They go through basic training. The military feeds them and gives them a place to stay and a paycheck. Sometimes when they get out, they don’t have the skills to live on their own and find themselves on the street.”

“People need a place to begin again,” Robertson said.

Robertson said Warrior’s Refuge partners with the VA and the Department of Labor. He said the nonprofit is working to open a PTSD counseling in Brenham that will be open to all veterans.

“There is a major lack of capacity to serve the need,” Robertson said.

Learn more about Warrior’s Refuge by visiting them online at https://thewarriorsrefuge.us. Warrior’s Weekend takes place Friday and Saturday, May 14 and 15, at Paw Paw’s Firehouse Cafe, located at 2290 S. Hwy. 237, Carmine.