hello there this is commissioner suzanne at well with another edition of commissioner corner i think many of you probably know that we're doing a lot of work in this community with our homeless outreach teams other otherwise known as the hot teams to try to work with a lot of our homeless and get them into homes where one of our most important goals right now is to get homeless veterans back into homes in the city of sarasota and it isn't  pleasure today to welcome mr joe vos stop thank you who is going to tell you all about his situation how he was able to help get home a home in this community and i was going to turn it right over to mr vos to and talk to you a little bit about first of all you are a veteran and i want to thank you for your service to our country awoke first and foremost tell me a little bit about how you came to arrive in sarasota starting with how you base used to fire missiles and so you were highly trained very highly trained and i had no education i finished the eighth grade and went to work from eight years old on i was i was working and no education at all selling drugs and getting into the bad side of life you know grown up with some really horrendous people  in new york my family's well connected and that's as far as will go there and what happened when you left new york i was told to leave new york and i left new york and just started traveling around the country just you know if my family this was my thing in my mind if my in my heart of my family didn't want me nobody wanted me so i just continued my chaos across this country i've seen many institutions jails prisons across this country i've written page to people's lives like a tornado in the negative aspect  and it wasn't until nine hundred ninety six i came to florida and i got a lot of trouble in key west and it was and there was a chaplain in key west and she was a big part of where i am today  and she just invited me to the lot and we took it from there and i went to prison they shipped me off to prison if eighteen months and i got out of prison and in two thousand  and i was homeless after a while in prison coming out of prisons i was just homeless here in florida so how did you feel about your home life that of well i guess it was a i had no clue that there was any kind of programs for us until i went back to prison in two thousand and six here in sarasota florida for some burglaries that i'd done here and the v a came straight to the prison when i was in liberty county and they told us about this vision a program that was already on the verge of you know making decisions on my life you know i didn't want to live the way i was you know and i knew that and that's where the spiritual aspect comes in but when i got when they came up there in liberty to v a they only selected a few of us because it was only a few vets and they were having the same problem they were wondering why a lot of veterans are sent to prison for little minus stuff you know and that's why i was introduced to a vision aid program they called it back then so that's where it all began for you in florida in florida yes yes transition from there down here to carousel down here where you are and they give us two years they give us two years with all the case management would all the case management and all the medical from baseball and in st pete we get out dentist all rise i just went through surgeries about a month and a half ago and so all that's taken care of and and see if we can get into non survivors disconnected disability you know where we get a check every month and you know that's on going to now ministry the food ministry i do food bank six days a week i go and pick up the food from different organizations here in sever sold or traded joes is one of faith food bank is another and we distribute this food on thursdays and saturdays but behind the scenes i'm there every day picking food up in and stocking the shelves in the coolers in the phrases and making sure people are who come through that door get something to  home sounds to me like you're paying it forward even to a lot and now look what you're doing how would you talk about what you're dealing now and what it means to you as a as a vet who is getting housing now but there's so much more to this there's a lot more it the first thing on how to transform in my life was my thinking my hatred had a i had a lot of hatred a lot of i was an ego testicle maniac i was a prideful balonne you know how to get busted and that's where the spiritual aspect comes in you know the god of my understanding you know he demolished all that in my life and the main thing that happens here is we have to become self les how you now in your life lead by example when you look at a lot of things going on in the city of sarasota or elsewhere in florida and in the country how do you lead by example and tell other vets that  did the guy who used to get locked up thirty three times in your jail here and you know did the offices all know me and going to prison in all that they saw they know me in that aspect  now they see a totally different job and believe it or not it's through the food bank on thursdays and saturdays we have a lot of homeless people that come to life and they see that difference in me d c that that kindness the consideration i don't look down on people i don't judge people anymore because everybody has a situation and i don't know your situation i have to treat you like i like i would treat myself and they see how i walk  walk and that's a main thing and they come up to me and asked me joe hundred you do it i said first of all i had to make a decision when i got i was a broken vessel out here i was so disgusted with myself suicide wasn't even an option you know i was so for how was i treated when i got out at that time it's the root causes stem from the childhood you know and then this is what we need to acknowledge is you know the drugs and the alcohol the erroneous symptom we have to get down to those root causes what is what is making a person go out there in keep on drinking and drug and you know if something happens to them you know either mentally physically or spiritually you know if we can get to those root causes with the people which they done with me you know the police department here they taken a liking to me every time the arrested me you know when they were a big inspiration for me to make the decision that ok this is really not me because i've had times in my in my life where i was over three years five years and i knew enjoyed that life you know and that all come back to me and i well if i can do it then i think i can do it again this time but i had to make that choice i had to make that decision you know when you got blaming people i was blaming you people i was blaming the salvation army yeah i went really a vital programs in everything you know and once that blame process stops forgiveness that you know you involve paid your dues in this community on so many levels and also you told me which i found quite interesting that you were in the construction business oh i helped build a lot of places in two thousand i was over in the sarra bay club that was and even there and i was a big part of building that i was a big part of the church tabernacle church the fellowship  women's we have a women's recovery housing a big part of building that and a men's six units on the men's and six more units on you could have a new homeless now we also have this time and also has fifteen years you know what can we do to offset for the homeless what can we do or did such a fine line there because a lot of the homeless is so ingrained you know they they don't want to help well it sounds like you are almost the type of person that is so valuable to everybody in this community with what you've been through that you're the kind of person that you can go to someone and try to change their lives around you have been there oh you know you have quite a history and what  finding is you have a normal commitment to this community on so many levels and that you're here to stay you're here to work hard and to work out of a lot of the issues you had and not necessarily to blame the military but you were military yes yes yes and believe it or not i've spoken to a lot of veterans on the street and we have quite a few of them know who have listened to through and where you've arrived here and our community is where the city especially right now where really one of our biggest goals here is to to tackle this problem and you are a great spokes person for this it seems to me you have such a passion and you've been through a great deal so how would you sum up what you're doing right now and what's going on in your life right now so more live this up we're in the spiritual warfare let's get them and they don't know it because nobody tells them that well with someone like you i think we're going to get the message loud and clear and it was a pleasure it was a pleasure having you on joe thank you and i want you as you and again i wish you all the best in your program you are full full throttle into this yes and that and i'm very pleased to hear that and again thank you for your service to our country and also again thank you for your service to our community