V-CAP Inc.

By Matt Hill
Register-Herald Reporter

November 22, 2008 11:37 pm

— As America prepares to embark on synchronized exercises in thanksgiving and charitable giving, what better place to start than with those who risk life and limb — literally — for the freedom and prosperity so many take woefully for granted?
Fayetteville couple Robert and Joyce Settle grew angrily weary from hearing stories about military veterans going hungry, struggling to pay rent and utilities, enduring life in homes that were in dire need of repairs, lacking transportation to and from the VA hospital in Beckley and freezing during the winter.
Rather than allowing their weariness to devolve into despair and apathy, they decided to summon that classic American spirit of volunteerism and do something about the problem.
According to Robert, they spent “every dime” of their savings account to form V-CAP Inc. — the Veteran Community Assistance Program — this year and hope to make it grow to meet the needs of neglected veterans.
Robert, himself a member of the Army from 1979 until 1996 and a veteran of the first Gulf War, speaks with experience and passion.
“I’m tired of seeing our veterans run over,” he declared, adding that he fought a four-year battle to be classified as fully disabled following a friendly fire incident that broke his neck.
“It took me a long time to get what was coming to me. Most of us (veterans) are too proud to go ask for help. They went to fight for us and defend our country. It’s not right that they would lose everything. We served our country. Our goal is to help our veterans get what they can’t get.”
- - -
The Settles know far too many heart-rending stories to deny the necessary nature of their enterprise — homeless veterans, veterans with alcohol and drug addictions, veterans who qualify for food stamps and other government assistance, a veteran in Barboursville with a leaking roof and another whose home is not handicap-accessible.
Joyce told of a veteran at a VA hospital who could not return home because his home needed to be remodeled for handicap accessibility to accommodate his leg amputation.
“We were told of one veteran who can’t afford to get his home rewired. He has to run an extension cord from a neighbor’s house to have one light and one heater. Twenty-five percent of our nation’s homeless are veterans. In West Virginia, it’s gone from 8 percent to 11 percent since 1997,” she lamented.
Robert and Joyce began toying with the idea of V-CAP in July and finally acquired their nonprofit incorporation in September. The main thing they lack now is you.
While Joyce and daughter Vickie Sparkman — herself the wife of a military man — operate the business from their home outside Oak Hill, Robert offers his services as a manual laborer. Wherever and whenever needed, he can attend to home repair needs.
“Until we get some money coming in, we can’t help. We just need to pay for materials. We don’t charge anything for labor. I have my contractor’s, electrician’s and plumber’s licenses,” he stated.
“We’re a military family. A veteran will be more likely to come to us for help because we’re veterans. They trust us. They don’t trust people who’ve never been there and done that.”
- - -
In addition to food and clothing drives for veterans and their children, Joyce is also taking psychology classes at Mountain State University to attempt to help veterans in coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and detoxification from subsequent alcohol and drug addictions.
As soon as more funding begins to roll in, the Settles hope to offer PTSD group meetings on the first and third Saturday of each month. They will also host family awareness meetings on the second and fourth Saturdays.
The couple’s efforts at gaining more exposure are already beginning to bear fruit. An article in a Huntington newspaper prompted a paramedic there to offer “to do all he can to help,” Joyce noted. Within two weeks of that article, the group’s Web site had received 160 visits, she added.
On a more local level, King Coal Chevrolet in Oak Hill offered to help out with transportation to and from the VA hospital with a van.
The Settles have statewide and even national goals.
“We hope to expand throughout West Virginia if things go well and go nationally at some point. We’ll serve anywhere we can get to. We’re getting calls from people on the border of West Virginia. We’ll take a drive down there to do it. People are calling to volunteer,” Robert said.
“We’re trying to get the message out. We know that if we can get the message out we can get people to help out.”
- - -
For those interested in contributing, V-CAP Inc. has a bank account set up through Chase. You can make checks payable to V-CAP Inc. and mail them to Route 2, Box 203, Fayetteville, WV 25840.
For more information on volunteering with V-CAP, call 304-465-5864 or visit its Web site at www.vcapinc.com.
— E-mail:
mhill@register-herald.com

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.