Homeless Brevard vet finds way to get life back on track

Homeless Brevard vet finds way to get life back on track
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY

Phil Campbell, a former Marine, was homeless. With help from the National Veteran's Homeless Support, he now has an apartment, a car, a job and is attending BCC. He works at the Chevron store on US 1 just south of the Beachline. _photo by Malcolm Denemark / Malcolm Denemark

COCOA — Philip Campbell would trek from his primitive, tarp-covered camp hidden in the thick brush in Cocoa to a nearby gas station every day. There, he was allowed to use the Internet connection to do college classwork.

After getting to know him, the owners of the gas station and convenience store offered Campbell a job. Soon after that, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran began to have hope that he could beat homelessness. And he did, thanks to the kindness of several in the community.

“If I can do it, you can, because I’m not that smart,” he said, sitting at a picnic table outside the store.

In the three months since gaining employment, Campbell has not only emerged from more than a year of living in the woods, but he also continues his work at the convenience store and his schooling at Brevard Community College. His story moved someone he never met to donate a car to him earlier this month.
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