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VCP Village has given U.S. Navy Veteran Angie the confidence to go back to school.
For the first time in 40 years, Angie stepped back into a classroom for a first day of school.
After joking that mathematics seems to have changed over that time, she flashed an infectious smile when turning to the two arts courses on her schedule: two-dimensional and concepts.
“I love them,” she said.
The courses at a nearby community college are a step toward the U.S. Navy Veteran and VCP Village resident earning a degree in interior design.
Even at this early stage, she can envision herself in different roles, from residential consulting to furniture sales to expert staging. She said it’s the manifestation of a lifelong interest in the area.
“Decorating was always something that my sisters and I would do together,” she said. “And design shows… they’re my thing.”
Part of what will set Angie apart in her interior design career is the perspective gained from the past year living in a 240-square-foot tiny home at VCP Village.
“You know, it gives me ideas on how to make things more efficient,” she explains. “You want to be able to decorate but also be able to move around – so everything needs to have its place.”
Angie, who enlisted in the Navy after high school and served as an aviation instructional mechanic specializing in helicopters, is currently one of several Veterans residing in tiny homes at VCP Village in St. Louis. The Village opened last fall as part of an organizational mission to fix Veteran homelessness across the United States.
With community support, VCP provides transitional housing, wraparound services, and other assistance for Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. For Angie, that meant “moving from place to place to place” with friends and family after losing her apartment amid depression and anxiety that struck while beginning an early retirement from her civilian career with the City of St. Louis.
After a fellow Veteran recommended that she talk to VCP, she got in touch and moved in with her dog Gotti shortly thereafter, reflecting now that, “When I came here, I was a shadow of myself. I didn’t smile, couldn’t look you in the eye. Now, you have no idea how well I’m doing.”
In the Village, the specially trained VCP case managers have helped in a variety of areas, including navigating the federal student aid program. “They keep me on track,” said Angie. “These are people who know how to guide you to assistance.”
Angie says that school is just the latest step in what’s been an inside-and-out transformation for the mother and grandmother (“IT’S ‘GIGI,’” she’ll tell you) since moving into VCP Village. Regaining her smile and embracing a new, shorter hair style have been outward expressions of how the environment has helped her manage depression and anxiety.
Reflecting on Veterans Community Project, she encourages those able to support the organization and those in need to look it up.
“I mean, where would I be if I wasn’t here?” she asked, rhetorically.
Then she walked back toward her home to get ready for school.