The Valor Clinic Foundation opened its doors for a public tour recently so people could visit Paul’s House and learn more about how the foundation provides homeless veterans a place to live, camaraderie and counseling.

Valor opened Paul’s House near Jonas in 2012. Mark Baylis, an Army veteran and founder of the Valor Clinic Foundation, said it cost $19.82 a day for each vet that stayed there that first year. Costs have gone up. It’s now upward of $32 per day.

“Raising money has become really important. The Patriots Ball has become the fundamental source of support,” Baylis said.

The Patriots Ball, which was held recently, provides enough funds in that one fundraiser to help the nonprofit meet its costs until spring, he said.

“We are not closing. We’re clearly not,” Baylis said. “We want to do more fundraisers. We’re at water’s level with our nose out, making it fundraiser by fundraiser.”

Baylis said that although they receive some federal money, the majority of the funding is through donations.

Navy veteran Erin Kelly came to Valor in 2021 after being homeless since 2019. She is now a house manager.

“I never did imagine, by any stretch, that I would be where I am now,” Kelly said. “But as time went on, I also became the facilitator now for our unstoppable program here.”

Kelly said that Valor is different from programs run by the civilian sector in that Valor is a peer-facilitated environment.

“The military mentality is not like any other. The gaps of understanding are huge,” Kelly said. “When you see the differences and the changes that you make in someone’s life here, it is life changing. It’s not just feeling gratitude or some kind of debt that you owe for everything that they’ve done for you here at Valor Clinic. It’s just how somebody is there to support one another. For me and others, there’s no other way to do it than here.”

Kelly said that the medical community needs to evaluate civilians and military personnel differently. Military personnel, as well as first responders, tend to be hyperaware. For those coming from the military, it’s due to “waking up every morning in fear for over a year, your situational awareness is beyond what anybody else has ever experienced,” she said. “So how can you place me in that box with them when I don’t fit there?”

Similarly to mental health issues, the stigma of being homeless needs to be addressed, Kelly said. Some people don’t want a place like Paul’s House in their backyard.

“They thought it was going to be like a rehab or a jail, and treated like criminals,” Kelly said about the house. “You don’t know why I had to come here, and so breaking that social stigma or that general thing that everyone thinks about what being homeless looks that, stigma needs to end. It’s important because we’re some of the best neighbors you could ever have.”

For veterans out there suffering, whether homeless or not, Kelly said, “You’re not forgotten by everybody. You know, your family may have turned their back on you. Your children don’t speak to you or you don’t have anybody left alive, but there’s this place here.

“I do what I do to make sure that there is somebody — when the civilian mentality, the facilities, doctors, organizations — when they don’t understand and we do. Here, we don’t judge you because of something that you’ve been through. You may look around and think, ‘they have no idea’ or ‘they can’t help me and there’s nothing they can do for me,’ but you don’t know what you can’t see, and we do.”

The Valor Foundation delivers 500-plus holiday meals to veterans and their families. Turkeys are needed as well as cooks and drivers.

For more information about Valor Clinic or to give a donation, go to www.valorclinic.org.

Kristine Porter contributed to this report.