U.S. Air Force veteran Michelangelo Payne came to Central Union Mission almost a year ago. He was unemployed and homeless. During his time there, he found a job, a home and salvation.
Payne, who works as a mechanic for the mission, said he found hope and a new purpose at the mission, participating in a discipleship class and finding a place to call home.
“From the day I walked in here on Nov. 20, I understood that if I was willing to do what it took to live that all the resources were here for me,” Payne said.
The mission was founded in 1884 to cater to Civil War veterans. Central Union director David Treadwell said Thursday that of the 85 homeless people that can stay the night at their main facility at 14th and R streets Northwest, typically as many as 25 of them are veterans.
Retired Air Force Gen. Kenneth Hess spoke to a gathering of about 100 people at a Veterans Day ceremony held at the mission. Treadwell said the mission’s many veterans participate in the mission’s spiritual transformation program and other programs for those with mental or physical disabilities.
He said the mission is working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to combine resources to end unemployment and homelessness among veterans.
“We believe that this is a group that has need and that there are resources there to help meet those needs,” Treadwell said. “We can marry them up properly.”
Above all, Treadwell said, the mission provides veterans with the most important thing they need: hope.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to give them hope,” he said. “They’re discouraged, and we’ve got to show them that ‘Yes, you can make it.’ ”
