MorningStar ‘a blessing’ for homeless veterans
By Bob Okon bokon@stmedianetwork.com February 22, 2012 8:18PM
Glen Malone, from American Legion Post 241, looks at a mirror Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in the new veterans home owned by MorningStar Mission at 16 Melchoir Place in Joliet, Ill. | Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:45AM
JOLIET — MorningStar Mission now has two houses for veterans and is working on a third.
“I think this is beautiful,” said Lou Vargas, commander of the Illinois chapter of Disabled American Veterans, during a tour Tuesday of the newest house.
It’s a simple, three-bedroom house decorated with furniture from a resale shop with the help of students from Joliet Junior College’s interior design program. It beats the streets.
One new resident of the Melchoir Street house had been living under an Interstate 80 overpass and had been homeless since returning from the Vietnam War in 1967, said Terri Micetich, director of development at MorningStar.
“He was getting no (Veterans Affairs) benefits,” Micetich said. “He was getting no medical — nothing.”
That happens, acknowledged Vargas and some of the other veterans who took the tour.
Those touring the house were from Buffalo Soldiers Memorial American Legion Post 241 in Joliet and Lockport Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5788. Vargas also is commander of Harry E. Anderson VFW Post 9545 in New Lenox.
The house is directly behind the MorningStar Mission buildings, 350 E. Washington St.
MorningStar Mission, which runs a shelter and kitchen for the homeless, has been expanding its efforts to help homeless veterans.
In January 2011, the mission opened its first veterans house on Melchoir Street. It is next door to the newest house. Together, the houses provide rooms for six residents, each of whom pay $200 if they have income and nothing if they don’t.
Jim Barnes, one of the first residents in the house that opened in 2011, called his home “a blessing.”
“It really works out financially,” Barnes said. “There’s no reason for complaining. I just wish they could have them for more veterans.”
That effort is in the works.
“I am bound and determined to find more houses,” Micetich said.
She is working on a third house and is in discussion with the owners about a possible acquisition.
Eventually, MorningStar Mission wants to have five houses. The first two are located directly behind MorningStar Mission, but Micetich said future houses won’t necessarily be in the same neighborhood.
The need is widespread, she said, noting that about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless are believed to be veterans.
“That should not be,” Micetich said. “We knew we needed to do something. They deserve so much more than living homeless in the streets.”
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