Vietnam Vet Kathy Newton, battles cancer and lives in a tent

This is a terrible story about homeless people in this country when you really think about it, but it is also a wonderful story about people taking care of each other. Troy Renault and his family are taking care of other people at the campground they now call home, giving away what little they have. Remarkable people.

One of them, Kathy Newton, is a homeless Vietnam veteran with cancer. Why isn't she getting the treatment she needs? How many stories about homeless veterans do we really need to read before we go out and get all of them at least the medical care they need?

We need to care about all the homeless people in this country because it's the right thing to do. We also need to take care of our veterans because it's the honorable thing to do in return for the fact they served the rest of us.

Homeless Families Flock to Campgrounds
July 15, 2009 - 2:41 PM by: Brooks Blanton
Troy Renault remembers the shocking statistic he heard earlier this year while watching the news. By the end of 2009, more than a million children will be homeless because of the recession, foreclosure crisis and skyrocketing unemployment rate.

"I was like how could that happen? In this country, how can that happen," Renault pondered that fact while sitting at a picnic table on a hot Tennessee afternoon. "And little did I think that my children would be part of the statistic."

He works in construction, helping build the suburban Nashville neighborhood that he, his wife Tammy and their four sons called home in until six weeks ago. When the housing industry collapsed, Troy was laid off and started his own handyman business. But even on his own, work was hard to find. The family struggled to make their bills.

"Do I keep the lights and water on so that we can at least get clean, wash clothes and do dishes? Or do we pay the rent and sit in the darkness?"

The lack of work finally caught up with the Renault family and they eventually lost their home. With nowhere to go, they packed their belongings and moved to Space 34 at the Timberline Campground in Lebanon, Tennessee. They now live in two tents, joined together to make up a tiny living room complete with a lamp and TV and three small rooms for the family of six to sleep. Their kitchen is a grill, stacks of plastic containers of food and a line of coolers just outside the tent. Running water, showers and toilets are a few steps away in a public restroom intended for campers to use on long weekends, vacations and holidays.

It's an attitude the Renault's live by at Timberline. They give away their own comfort items or lend a helping hand to those they feel are in more need. Even though they sweat out the hot days and humid nights in their tents, they refused to keep a donated air conditioner. Instead they gave it to Kathy Newton, a vietnam veteran who is battling cancer and lives in a tent just two spaces down from their makeshift home. Troy also gave a refrigerator to a couple at a neighboring campsite who couldn't afford to replace one that broke down and he recently helped an another woman by fixing the plumbing in her tiny camper, free of charge.
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Homeless Families Flock to Campgrounds