Homeless Veterans is a New Home Owner!
Today was the start of a new chapter for a once-homeless veteran here in the Midlands: veteran Ben Bethea signed the papers to purchase his own home.
For the past several years Bethea worked with an organization called Palmetto State Base Camp, which helps homeless veterans get back on their feet and gain financial stability.
The journey back has been a long and filled with twists and turns for this veteran.
“To end up going to prison losing everything, my family, my home, my cars my everything. I lost it all to drug abuse,” Bethea said. “I was able to do it for a long time and maintain until it got to a point where my wife made me choose between her and the drugs and I chose the drugs and that’s when everything went down.”
That all changed when he went to prison.
“I ended up going to prison for about 13 months but in prison was when I got serious about allowing God to deliver me from alcohol and tobacco and he did,” he said.
Around Bethea’s living room are reminders of inspiration. From spiritual books to objects that remind him that his faith has brought him to this point — and it all sits in a house he now owns.
“I don’t have to ask anybody can I get something to eat? Can I look at TV? This is all mine,” he said.
He just wants other people who are where he used to be to know this message, “Just don’t give up. It’s possible and believe in yourself.”