Evicted-Paralyzed veteran, lost everything and then his community supplied love

Disabled veteran loses his possessions in a curbside fire after his eviction

WWMT Newschannel 3
by CALLIE RAINEY
September 17th 2019

Summey said the community was also quick to offer help, after he posted a picture of the burned belongings on social media. "Pretty amazing, within minutes hundreds of messages people wanting to know what they could do to help," Summey said.

STURGIS, Mich. (WWMT) — The contents of his apartment were stacked on the curbside, but before a disabled veteran who once called Quail Run II his home could move the belongings, someone doused the pile with gasoline and lit a match.

"I seen him, he was sitting in his chair. He didn't want to leave his stuff. I can understand, that's all your possessions," said Clint Parsons, who lives near the apartment complex.

Parsons said the gentleman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, told him his rent hadn't been paid in almost a year, even though he had a caregiver who was supposed to be handling his affairs.

According to Disability Attorneys of Michigan in 2015 there were 82,952 homeless people in Michigan, and 5,291 of those were veterans.

St. Joseph County Veterans' Affairs Director Stoney Summey said the county's transitional housing program provided secure, safe housing to 28 veterans throughout the first nine months of 2019.

Summey said the veteran who was evicted from Quail Run II on Friday, is paralyzed, and now brings to six the number of homeless veterans in St. Joseph County.
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