Grace Home for Veterans

Bill Chafin and Don Miller stand in front of the former Redemptorist Monastery that served as the rectory for St. Gerard’s Church.

Grace Home will provide housing for up to ten homeless veterans.

Bill Chafin and Don Miller consult with homeless veteran advocates from Browning, Mont. The old rectory is in the process of demolition and rehabilitation.

By William Chafin, Grand Knight, Council 9395, Great Falls

The concept of Grace Home to house homeless veterans was presented to our Knights of Columbus Council 9395 through our “Coats for Kids” giveaway on December 12, 2015, at the Great Falls St. Vincent de Paul. Shannon Augare, Director of St. Vincent de Paul, presented me with a media release which gave me the particulars on Grace Home. They had already bought the building, the former St. Gerard Rectory, quite a while ago from the Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. After our “Coats for Kids,” Jason Berger, the Community Director of K of C Council 9395, asked me if our council would pursue this project, and I agreed. The facility will provide housing for ten homeless veterans, including one handicapped-accessible room.

Our first meeting was January 5, 2016, at St. Vincent de Paul with Shannon Augare and his assistant, Scott Rate. We discussed that the building would need some work to fix it up. The local food bank would need a bigger walk-in cooler to feed the people of the city as well as the veterans at Grace Home. We would need a lot of man-power to achieve this project. Shannon told us that from now on we would meet every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.

After the meeting, Jason and I decided he would talk to the Malmstrom Air Force Base personnel, because he is an Air Force Master Sargent. During the week before, Jason and I had met with Scott at the building to assess the work that needed to be done. Jason took pictures to show the personnel at Malmstrom what needed to be done. After the meeting, Jason met with the Base Commander and explained what we were trying to accomplish for the homeless veterans.

The Air Force members have allotted volunteer hours to help organizations, so the Base Commander signed off for this project. The Commander opened the RED HORSE Squadron, 341st Civil Engineering, as well as counselors for the veterans. This totaled 150 men to help. Jason entered the men into a database with their skill-sets and sorted workers into painters, carpenters, electric, plumbing, etc.

I began the task of finding a walk-in cooler for the food bank. After getting a price for a new one, I found out that was out of the question. I found a used one from a distributor in town for only $500! I contacted the other Great Falls K of C Council 1493 to enlist some help to paint the new location of the food bank. The date was set at our usual meeting time. I talked to Jason, and he is going to get about 40 military men to help with this project, because this work at the food bank will also serve Grace Home residents. The plan was to paint on February 20, begin to install shelving the next day, and start the task of moving the dry goods over and all the non-perishable food in their appropriate places. Shoemaker Construction hauled the walk-in cooler to the food bank location, and the military assisted in this phase as well.

I have talked to Missouri River Center and they have a veteran-approved rehabilitation facility. They are ready to assist with the veterans’ needs. The Grace Home will have its own kitchen in the building with stoves and ovens. There will be a volunteer to cook three square meals for the veterans. There will be a laundry facility with washers and dryers and supplies.

Counselors will be available for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Once the home is up and running, businesses will be able to sponsor the veterans’ rooms; their contributions will cover painting the rooms, sheets, pillows, tables and whatever is needed for that specific veteran.

These veterans were willing to give of their lives for our freedom. Arlington Cemetery shows what the ultimate sacrifice is for our freedom. We as Knights of Columbus and all people have our freedom because of people living and dying in the military, fighting for our country. When people are willing to fight for us, and then they can finally come home, they can fall through the cracks of life and find themselves homeless. When this happens, we have fallen as a country. When we needed them the most, they were there for us in our time of need. Why can’t we be there for them in their time of need? You can’t take a person, put them in war, and bring them back to civilian life and expect them to be able to turn the switch off. It takes time to adjust, and it takes time to trust their surroundings.

This is why Grace Home Centers should be created, in key places, around our great country to help catch these veterans in their time of adjusting to civilian life. We as Knights of Columbus support the Fourth Degree (Patriotism) and our First Degree (Charity). This is why Grace Home fits the Knights of Columbus.