March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024 April 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024 August 2024 September 2024 October 2024 November 2024 December 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26
27
28
29
30
31
News Every Day |

Share the Spirit: Nonprofit helps homeless, impoverished East Bay military veterans feel like ‘not just a number’

OAKLAND — For Cecilia Schonian, one of the hardest parts of living in her car was simply finding a place to park.

She learned to avoid malls and shopping centers, where security guards quickly rousted alleged loiterers. Instead, she sought out the well-lit parking lots of hotels and motels across the East Bay. Once there, she’d peer out of her windows with a dash of envy at people sleeping indoors just feet away.

“It’s depressing — you know that whoever is sleeping in those rooms are comfy, they’re showered and they’re clean,” Schonian said. “But it was just what I needed to do at the time. And I got through it.”

The turning point came when Schonian, 37, walked through the front doors of Swords to Plowshares, an organization with 50 years of experience helping homeless and impoverished military veterans such as herself. Nearly a year after first visiting the nonprofit, she now lives in her own apartment and works at the front desk of the organization’s Oakland Service Center.

Through the East Bay Times’ Share the Spirit campaign, which helps the neediest in our communities, Swords to Plowshares is hoping to raise $35,000 to help boost that center, which provides a wealth of services for military veterans.

It’s the same place that Schonian visited in October 2023, after finding the nonprofit through a simple Google search. After tapping out the words “rental assistance for veterans around me,” she followed one of the first links to appear on her phone to discover the organization’s drop-in center located in Oakland’s Jack London Square.

Client Intake Specialist Cecilia Schonian, 37, of Pleasanton, talks with her former case manager Program Coordinator Diana Morales at the Swords to Plowshares office in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Biernbaum is an Air Force veteran and received assistance from the nonprofit as she was searching for a job. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

Upon her arrival, Schonian felt near-immediate relief. She could tell that the years of turmoil that plagued the past decade of her life — her struggles with homelessness, unemployment and alcoholism — were nearing an end.

“It just felt like I was at home,” said Schonian, who served for five years in the Air Force as an active-duty airman, as well as another two years in the Air Force Reserves, before leaving the service with untreated post-traumatic stress. “I had people that understood me and cared about me, that weren’t going to judge me off of whatever was happening in my life at that time.”

Swords to Plowshares traces its roots back to 1974, when Vietnam War veterans in San Francisco began searching for a way to help their fellow soldiers struggling with high rates of unemployment, homelessness and substance abuse. Their initial answer came in the form of a drop-in center, one specializing in providing legal support to people filing medical claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Over the next 50 years, the nonprofit expanded its services exponentially.

Just last year, the nonprofit helped more than 3,100 military veterans, more than a third of whom were new to the organization, according to its 2023 annual report. Nearly 45% of those people had been homeless when they sought help, having spent an average of more than three years without a permanent indoor place to live.

Many of those people were placed into one of the nonprofit’s 500 housing units that it operates across the Bay Area, while others were offered rental assistance. The nonprofit also helped connect veterans to mental health care, doled out more than 100,000 meals and distributed nearly 1,000 gun locks to help stem the tide of suicides among former military service members.

“A lot of this growth is based on the needs of veterans and seeing what the gaps in care and services are, and making sure that there was the entity that was culturally able to provide the care and services that veterans needed and to advocate on their behalf,” Tramecia Garner, the nonprofit’s executive director, said.

About 20 years ago, the nonprofit expanded its work across the Bay Bridge into the East Bay, where it opened a center at 330 Franklin St. in downtown Oakland. It’s an outlet that helps about 500 East Bay veterans every year with housing vouchers, food handouts, gas vouchers, hygiene kits and holiday backpacks.

Client Intake Specialist Cecilia Schonian, 37, of Pleasanton, prepares intakes at the Swords to Plowshares office in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Biernbaum is an Air Force veteran and received assistance from the nonprofit as she was searching for a job. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

These days, Schonian is tasked with greeting most every person to walk through the center’s front doors.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Schonian handed out gourmet turkey breast sandwiches from Salt & Honey to a handful of visitors, then she sat down to enroll a man in a popular supportive housing program. She didn’t even try to convince the man to go to a crowded shelter — a place that he flat-out refused to visit. Rather, Schonian convinced him to apply for an apartment of his own.

All the while, Schonian spoke with an air of credibility that newcomers to the nonprofit respond to, said James Thomas, 80. He described routinely visiting the nonprofit over the past decade for help with paying rent, keeping his wardrobe stocked or meeting the month’s bills.

“You can feel that she’s caring about the individuals she’s talking to,” said Thomas, who stopped by this time for help with his water bill. “Her emotions come from the heart.”

For Schonian, the goal is to help other military veterans escape that same cycle of homelessness that led her to the nonprofit’s front doors last year.

“I was meant to go through everything that I went through for a reason,” Schonian said. “Now I get to celebrate those victories with them.”

Client Intake Specialist Cecilia Schonian, 37, of Pleasanton, makes copies at the Swords to Plowshares office in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Biernbaum is an Air Force veteran and received assistance from the nonprofit as she was searching for a job. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

THE SHARE THE SPIRIT SERIES 
Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times, The Mercury News and Bay Area News Group that provides relief, hope and opportunities for East Bay residents by raising money for nonprofit programs in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

WISH
Donations will support Swords to Plowshares’ Oakland Service Center, which provides direct services for 500 East Bay veterans annually. Funding will help meet 100 veterans’ basic needs by providing emergency housing, food and gas vouchers, hygiene kits, and holiday backpacks. Goal: $35,000

HOW TO GIVE 
Go to sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate or print and mail in this form.

LEARN MORE
Find additional stories at sharethespiriteastbay.org.

Read also

Charlotte 49ers and the Charleston (SC) Cougars square off in Honolulu, Hawaii

Watch: Harry Kalas reads ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’

Coffee Time 41

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Anmolpreet Singh smashes fastest List A hundred by an Indian

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

Pujara's game plan: How to counter India's 'headache' - Travis Head?



Sports today


Новости тенниса
Юлия Путинцева

Путинцева высказалась о переезде в Казахстан



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

Парусный спорт – как глобальное потепление и новые технологии влияют на соревнования



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

ЦСКА продлил контракт с 17-летним бомбардиром-рекордсменом ЮФЛ


Новости России

Game News

Золотоискатели 2.129.1


Russian.city


Настроение

Погожий денёк...


Губернаторы России
Алексей Смирнов

СК вызвал на допрос экс-губернатора Курской области Смирнова


Свыше 6,5 тысячи жителей Москвы и Московской области получили справки о статусе предпенсионера в клиентских службах регионального Отделения СФР и МФЦ

Пластический хирург Пахилин: все операции и процедуры сопряжены с рисками

Суд на 2,5 месяца продлил арест экс-сенатору Совфеда Савельеву

Филиал № 4 ОСФР по Москве и Московской области информирует: В 2024 году Отделение СФР по Москве и Московской области назначило единое пособие родителям 370,5 тысячи детей


Волочкова — о смерти экс-мужа Седоковой: «Поступок очень слабого человека»

Задержан еще один предполагаемый соучастник хищения денег у Ларисы Долиной

Создании ИИ клипа. Создание клипа с помощью нейросети.

II Международный конкурс имени С. В. Рахманинова объявляет прием заявок


Юлия Путинцева раскрыла правду про отношения с Еленой Рыбакиной

Соболенко прибыла на первый турнир 2025 года после решения Рыбакиной

Александр Зверев: «Все еще считаю, что в этом году я показал свой лучший теннис на «Уимблдоне». Было очень, очень обидно получить травму колена»

Путинцева откровенно высказалась о России



Более 230 работодателей Москвы и Московской области получили субсидии за трудоустройство новых сотрудников по программе субсидирования найма

Сотрудники СОБР и ОМОН подмосковного главка Росгвардии прошли испытания на право ношения знака отличия полицейского спецназа

Стройматериалы оптом – надежный партнер для вашего бизнеса

Более 511,3 тысячи семей Московского региона получили сертификаты на материнский капитал в проактивном формате


Бастрыкин поручил СК проверить сообщения о рейдерском захвате квартир москвичей

В России пройдет главная премия по криптовалютам и блокчейн-технологиям - Crypto Awards 2024

В филиале «Южный» по итогам 2024 года программа по улучшению условий и охраны труда выполнена на 100%

«Металлург» примет «Авангард», «Ак Барс» против «Динамо» Москва. Превью 23 декабря


Роспотребнадзор предлагает вакцинироваться: защита от зимних вирусов

В Крюкове обновлены фасады двух нежилых строений

Парад снеговиков открыл сезон новогодних елок

Первая грузовая компания расширяет сотрудничество с ЭТП ГП



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Песня

Менеджер Песни. Менеджер Релиза Песни. Менеджер вышедшей песни.



News Every Day

'Not sending Gukesh to school was tough call': Mother




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости