There’s something in the water in Red Wing

Area posts, county quick to aid struggling veterans

RED WING — Army veteran Dan Bryant was homeless and living down by the Mississippi River in Red Wing. Today, he owns a house where he and his son reside, and he is a member of American Legion Post 54.

His story starts in Bakersfield, Calif., where he grew up with, as he admits, abusive parents. He participated in Junior ROTC in high school and was motivated to enter the Army. Bryant became a 19D, a cavalry scout.

He was assigned to Alpha Company of the 3-71 Cavalry Regiment in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y. However, they had deployed to Afghanistan. The powers that be told him to prepare to deploy, too. Shortly after, they sent him to 3rd Brigade, and he was under an NCO who must have been left behind in the rear for good reasons.

“People who shouldn’t have been given power were given power,” Bryant said.

That NCO — without the rest of the cadre around to counter his power trip — hazed Bryant and two other privates and prevented them from deploying. Bryant even ended up with permanent scars to prove it.

In the end, that abuser was responsible for pushing Bryant out of the Army with an honorable discharge in 2006 before his enlistment was over.

“I walked out of the Fort Drum gates hauling all of my belongings,” Bryant said.

How did a California kid end up in Red Wing?

He couldn’t go home. He drifted, living in Utah, Upstate New York and Montana. Finally, an old Army buddy from Drum was living with a girlfriend who lived in her mom’s basement in Rochester, Minn. He invited Bryant to come because they thought they could make a camper on the grounds work as sleeping quarters.

However, in total soap opera fashion, the couple broke up, and the buddy moved to Florida.

Bryant likes motorcycles. He has a 2004 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. He had participated in an annual spring ride called the Flood Run. It goes down and up scenic roads along the Mississippi River through Minnesota and Wisconsin. He had been to Red Wing before and liked it.

He described his decision simply as: “Eff it. I’ll go there.”

While there, in May 2023, he called 1-800-LinkVet, a state-operated phone line that connects veterans in need with available resources. The state alerted Goodhue County Veteran Service Officer Justin Kent to the homeless veteran living along the river.

Kent called Bryant, who twice hung up on him.

“I thought it was AI,” Bryant said.

Finally, Kent texted, and Bryant called back. Kent housed Bryant in the Red Wing Super 8 thanks to the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs’ VTEMP program, which covers short-term stays. The full name is Veterans Temporary Emergency Housing Voucher Program.

Plus, Kent had access to a food bank down the street, Kent recalled.

The hotel life came to an end in October 2023. By then, a federal VA social worker and Kent worked to get Bryant into the Stonehouse Apartments in Cannon Falls starting in November 2023 using a HUD-VASH voucher, which is a federal rental assistance program for veterans struggling to secure housing.

Red Wing American Legion Post 54 Commander Lance Garrick said the post helped out by getting him grocery and gas gift cards and clothing.

Kent said the post often helps the veterans he and his team at the Goodhue County Courthouse are working with, and they maintain open communication so the post can use its gambling funds to assist veterans directly.

Posts across Goodhue County donate to a Goodhue County fund strictly for aiding homeless veterans. Posts in the county are Red Wing Post 54, Cannon Falls Post 142, Zumbrota Post 183, Kenyon Post 78, Pine Island Post 184 and, in a town straddling a county line, Bellechester Post 598. VFW posts also give. The fund is further bolstered by an MDVA grant for CVSOs.

Kent called it the GCUVO Fund. It stands for Goodhue County Universal Veterans Organization. It also can aid to prevent homelessness, such as paying rent, phone, car repair or utilities. Preventing joblessness can prevent homelessness, too.

“Preventing homelessness is a hundred times less expensive than getting a homeless veteran housed again,” Kent said.

Often, the county will use the fund to handle the initial need, then VTEMP — which does 60 days now instead of six months — until a longer housing plan can be put in place, such as MACV or HUD-VASH.

Kent said he looks through eviction filings in the county court records, and he finds veterans who may need help or will soon need it.

Garrick said local churches volunteer to provide shelter, food, showers and laundry services at night for unhoused adults with a program they call Hope & Harbor. He works with them to find the veterans and assist them.

“We have a system,” Garrick said.

“We have a system,” confirmed Kent.

They estimated the county and the post, working together, have helped around 30 veterans a year. They are tracking around 11 struggling veterans as of Feb. 1.

Kent guesses his county might be the largest user of VTEMP in the state, other than the Minnesota Assistance County for Veterans.

Post 54 and the CVSO’s office has used the Minnesota American Legion Foundation’s Fund 85, too, as a last resort when no other help is available. Fund 85 is the Minnesota Veterans Assistance Fund.

“If a veteran is from Goodhue County, we aren’t going to send them to another community,” Kent said. “We are going to help.”

While Fund 85 is a valuable resource, Garrick added that, when a post directly assists veterans, it saves Fund 85’s money for other needs in the state, especially for areas where local posts might not have gambling revenue to help.

Bryant is single and has a son, who is in his life now. The Army veteran doesn’t drink or do drugs. He leads a sober life and enjoys tinkering with his bike. He hangs out with other sober motorcycle guys and draws a VA disability check each month for income.

He closed on the new house in Red Wing on Nov. 15. He had saved up the earnest money, and he didn’t need a downpayment thanks to the VA loan, watching his finances and building up his credit.

“My life changed when I stopped hanging out with the wrong people and kept to myself,” Bryant said.