BAYVILLE, N.J. - Any day a homeless veteran finds a place to call their own is a good day for Don Perrini.
He knows firsthand, having experienced homelessness after coming home from Vietnam.
"You gotta put your faith in God, that's what I did," said Perrini, of Little Egg Harbor. "I was going to take my own life, too. My wife here now, she opened up a house to me. Now, all that done, I own my own home finally in Little Egg Harbor."
Perrini found his way. But for many other homeless veterans struggling to find their way, Bayville will be their new home.
Tunnel To Towers is building its next Veterans Village in New Jersey, the nonprofit's first in the Garden State.
More than 120 new homes are coming to this space in the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, with veteran support services built in.
"It takes a village to build a village," said Gavin Naples, SVP of the Homeless Veterans program. "We have case management, behavioral health, entitlements, employment assistance, legal advocacy. It's permanent housing on the floors above that, and in the comfort homes, for an older class of veteran, little more trouble re-integrating back into the community because of their age, and they're looking for a permanent place to call home but still have access to the services that we provide in the building."
Tunnel To Towers has made it its mission to end veteran homelessness.
"When you talk about 30-some-odd-thousand homeless veterans in this country, it's like, what are we doing?" said Bob Rodgers of the American Legion Post 348 Riders.
The organization has built properties like this all over the country and has initial plans to build more in New Jersey.
"The ceiling is when there's no more homeless vets on the street in New Jersey," said T2T CEO Frank Siller.
Officials hope to open the Bayville Veteran Village next summer.
English (US) ·