JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of volunteers came together Saturday morning to spruce up a facility that provides transitional housing for veterans who are experiencing homelessness.
Volunteers with the Home Depot Foundation and the Volunteers of America of Florida worked together to upgrade the Ben Singleton Center off Philips Highway near the South Riverside neighborhood.
“Just knowing people in the community outside of our organization come here and actually care, and they want to make sure that they’re in a beautiful space,” said Stephanie Vranich, Vice President of Development and Outreach of Volunteers of America of Florida.
Herbert Rinderer, an Air Force veteran who lives at the center, said working in bettering the center, especially doing yard work, is good for his mental health.
“I’m a gardener at heart. I grow everything. I pick things up all the time, come home and put them in a pot,” Rinderer said.
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The center provides veterans experiencing homelessness with a place to stay, mental health support, medical support, and addiction recovery.
That’s what led Rinderer here.
“A little bit of alcohol abuse, a little bit of just bad luck,” Rinderer said.
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Team Depot Captain Woodrow Hawkins volunteered Saturday with the Home Depot Foundation.
He and other volunteers spent the day painting, landscaping, and replacing damaged fencing, to help upgrade this facility.
“My family is military, and I believe in giving back,” Woodrow said. “I want them to feel comfortable and feel like it is a place where they can enjoy and relax outside, and it doesn’t feel like an institution where they just live in a little small box.”
According to organizers, this project will ultimately further the center’s goal of serving its participants in a space they’re proud of, and one they deserve.