A Homeless Veteran Finds a Home After 18 years Living in the Toms River Woods
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November 25, 2021A Homeless Veteran Finds a Home After 18 years Living in the Toms River Woods
Kenny Epsel, 76, served in the Air Force and U.S. Army Reserve. All he had to show for it was a tent in the woods.
Kenny Epsel, 76, was a veteran of the Air Force and the United States Army Reserve
Kenny Epsel served in the United States Air Force for four years before joining the Army Reserve for a long time.
He only had a tent in the woods to show for it.
For the previous 18 years, this veteran had been homeless. He spent the majority of his time in Toms River, near the intersection of Hooper and Bay Avenues.
Thanks to the kindness of advocates for Ocean County's homeless, he’s not living that way anymore. Last week the 76-year-old moved into an apartment in Brick.
Kenneth Epsel in his New Apartment in Brick
Epsel served in the Air Force from 1965 to 1969, and then in the Army Reserve from 1979 to 1996, based at Fort Dix. When his mother died in 2002, he was living in his mother's house in Brick, and everything fell apart. Kenny performed a series of low-paying jobs to make enough money to pay for winter motel accommodations. He slept in tents for the rest of the year.
He was struck by a car while riding his bicycle in 2015, at the age of 70, and suffered a broken pelvis. He was in the hospital for six months, and issues continue to plague him. He uses a cane to get around. "I'd like to return to work," he remarked, "but I can't stand for lengthy periods of time."Because Ocean County lacks a permanent homeless shelter, a large number of people reside in Toms River's woods.
Paul Hulse is well-versed in those woods. Tom River's Code Blue emergency shelter is administered by Mr. Hulse who is the president of Just Believe Inc., an Ocean County nonprofit that helps the poor. It opens on the coldest nights and accommodated 171 visitors in the winter of 2020-21. He's teamed up with Toms River cops to pull people out of the woods and into the shelter. The officers provided Hulse a tip last year: there was an elderly veteran living in a tent. Kenny was visited by Hulse and Terrance Turnbach, a Toms River council member who has made combating homelessness a priority. They persuaded Kenny to go to the Riverwood Park recreation center's Code Blue shelter. Amanda Mehrman, the Code Blue shelter's assistant coordinator and a member of Just Believe Inc., took up his cause.Mehrman found Epsel a home in Brick through Homes Now, an organization that provides affordable housing in Ocean County. Epsel, who receives a tiny Social Security pension, splits the bill with the Brick Housing Authority, which receives funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
On the eve of Veterans Day, Nov. 10, he signed the lease.Mehrman inquired about Kenny's Thanksgiving plans. Kenny couldn't find a great supper for the holidays last year. Every establishment he visited was closed. It was discouraging.
Mehrman has a plan for today. She is going to pick him and take him to the Code Blue center and make him a plate and he can enjoy a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving. Then she will take him back to his new home, which is the best part.
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