Watch CBS News

WBZ Cares: Iraq War Veteran Thanks Boston Non-Profit For Second Chance

BOSTON (CBS) - The WBZ Cares Campaign continues for the month of November.
Each month, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what it does for the community.

For the month of November, WBZ profiles "New England Center & Home For Veterans," a national leader in housing and serving veterans who are at risk of homelessness.

The Boston-based group offers services throughout the region, supporting and connecting veterans with innovative services that enable success, meaningful employment, and dignified independent living.

Iraq Veteran Tobi Makinde lost his way after returning home from a tour in Iraq and Kuwait and graduating from college with a photography degree.

He found himself with no job and no place to live, so he turned to the New England Center and Home for Veterans.

"It was a choice between sleeping at South Station, or walking down to the center and actually telling them that I needed a place to stay." Tobi Makinde said.

That decision changed Makinde's life. He lived at the center for two years and went through their work training program, learning how to become a protection officer.

At first, Makinde says he felt a lot of shame for having to rely on others for help.

"The shame was the first couple months, I was a recluse at the time, I wouldn't talk to anybody. I wouldn't socialize. I just wanted to get back into having my own. Eventually, I came to learn, yes I needed people still in my corner and there were people that were willing to help. All I needed to do was ask."

Makinde now has a full-time security job at the Prudential Center, lives in an apartment in Lynn and has his own photography studio. He says he owes a lot of his success to his instructor at the work training program.

"Once he helped and he showed me that, yes you are down on your luck and it's not a bad thing to ask for help. Once I figured that out, everything else became easy. And it wasn't that he was just giving me the food, he was showing me how to get the food."

Makinde feels like his life is now whole again and he is at peace with himself
"Tranquility. I love to cook, and the fact that I can make my own food," he said

"The fact that I can wake up and take care of myself, that's probably the best feeling. It's one of those, you don't know what you are missing until it is gone types of situations. I forgot what I was missing and now I got it. It's like I have to cherish these moments."

If you'd like to know more about NECHV, volunteer or wish to make a donation, visit their website www.nechv.org

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.