Stepping up for Stand Down in San Diego

Stepping up for Stand Down
Chaplain Pavich pulls it all together – again – for next weekend's rally for homeless veterans
By Caroline Dipping
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. July 12, 2009


Nearly 1,000 homeless military veterans are expected to descend on San Diego High School's upper athletic field next weekend for the 22nd annual Veterans Village of San Diego Stand Down. As in years past, they will be looking forward to a shower, food and a safe place to sleep. Maybe even a haircut.

Whether they get this, and a host of other services crucial to their welfare, hinges on the organizational acumen and sheer workhorse drive of one woman.
Darcy Lovgren Pavich.

Pavich took over as San Diego's Stand Down coordinator 10 years ago by happenstance, when the regular coordinator retired just a month before the three-day rally. The former Navy chaplain was nearing the end of a long convalescence from ovarian cancer when her husband, Al, then CEO of Veterans Village of San Diego, asked her if she could pitch in and help with that year's Stand Down.
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Stepping up for Stand Down