Homeless Vets Get Help, Warm Meal in Bristol Twp.

Charles Greer says drug and alcohol abuse was his poison. Despite being homeless on the streets of Philadelphia, Greer was recently able to celebrate four months of sobriety with hopes of a new start.

Greer like 100 plus other homeless military veterans are camping out and working toward a brighter future at the Lower Bucks County Government campus next to the Levittown Library in Bristol Township this weekend.

“I’m still struggling with sobriety,” Greer, a middle-aged former Marine, said of his everyday challenge. “But here they’re helping keep me on track.”

The vets are eating warm meals, getting medical care, information on jobs, warm showers, enjoying entertainment and safe beds as part of the 20th annual Philadelphia Stand Down encampment. Vets from Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia counties were transported to the makeshift encampment.

“I think Stand Down means a lot to them,” said Jerry Jonas, a veteran and member of the board that organizes the event.

With help from the military, local government and community groups, the three-day event is aided by dozens of volunteers.

“There should not be a veteran in the country who doesn’t have a home,” said Bucks County Military Affairs Director Dan Fraley told the gathered former military men and woman during a ceremony Friday.

Aside from local dignitaries like local State Rep. Tina Davis, Hatboro-based State Rep. Tom Murt spoke and thanked all the vets in attendance for for their service. Murt, a military man himself, served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

“I’m so honored to have an event like this in Bristol Township,” Councilwoman Amber Longhitano said. “They’ve given so much; we couldn’t possibly give them what they’ve given for us.”

The Stand Down took place at several places around Philadelphia before coming to Bristol Township in 2010. County officials expect the weekend event to return for many years to come.

Organizers noted that some of the vets volunteering at this year’s Stand Down, which is a military term for rest, were previously homeless and come back to help.

Former Marine Charles Moories of Chester used resources he received at previous Stand Down encampments to help get Section 8 housing in his hometown. Moories said he come back to the the event to socialized with friends and fellow veterans.

For Greer,  it was the medical care he received that he was most appreciative for.

U.S. Navy Vet Joanne traveled from Philadelphia with her two adult daughters to the event. The family was left homeless after they lost their Turnersville, N.J. house in July.

“They have just about everything about everything here,” she said, adding, “Without this, we’d be on the streets.”

Jonas, who has more recently worked as a columnist for several Philadelphia newspapers, said his long-term goal is that homelessness among vets is eradicated and there would no longer be a need for the Stand Down encampment.