An encounter with two members of the North Carolina state legislature put John Turner (HHS’01), a former Army officer and Iraq combat veteran, on track to fulfill the critical needs of 21st century military veterans through a program designed to facilitate community reintegration, counseling, training, and mentoring.
During VFW State Legislator Day in May of 2009, Turner met both Thom Tillis, now a United States senator, and Marilyn Avila, a former state legislator who now serves as the vice chair on the Veterans Life Center Board of Directors.
“They saw a group of guys with VFW hats, and we started talking,” Turner says. That conversation led to many others about the needs of veterans in North Carolina. “Our state is home to more than 800,000 veterans, and it’s estimated that vets make up 20 percent of the homeless population — we wanted to find a way to help return veterans to self-reliance.”
Turner founded the Veterans Leadership Council of North Carolina-CARES with the goal of eventually establishing the Veterans Life Center, a residential facility with a mission to help combat the chronic homelessness, incarceration, suicide, and premature death faced by many veterans.
“The state was very generous,” Turner says. “They leased several buildings to us for one dollar, and an engineering firm walked through the buildings with us pro bono. We realized we would have to raise a few million dollars to renovate the buildings.” State officials later said renovating those buildings might not be cost effective and offered a site for a new building in Butner. Once home to a World War II Army installation and demobilization facility, the town provides easy access to a Veterans Affairs hospital in nearby Durham.
In 2017, a groundbreaking ceremony for the Veterans Life Center was attended by hundreds, including Tillis; the facility is slated for completion in spring of 2020. During the ceremony, Tillis praised Turner’s tenacity: “If he enters your office, just go ahead and say yes — don’t event wait to find out what he wants.” Turner, a devoted Boilermaker basketball fan, frames the nearly decade-long journey in Purdue player careers. “Robbie Hummel and the Baby Boilers were playing back when we started,” he says. “Now Carsen Edwards has just finished at the University.”
His perseverance and commitment to North Carolina’s veterans attracted the attention of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which presented Turner its Medal of Honor in March. The award, the highest one offered by the national organization, recognizes extraordinary qualities of leadership, trustworthiness, service, and patriotism. “To get an award from an organization like DAR — from people whose ancestors literally founded the nation — means a lot to me and is very humbling,” he says. “I think they were impressed with the Veterans Life Center as whole, and many people deserve credit for bringing the center to fruition.”
When it opens, the Veterans Life Center will have room for 100 veterans. Case managers will assess individual needs that might include behavioral health therapy, physical health care, educational advancement and certification, and family reunification counseling. Veterans can remain at the facility for at least 90 days and up to two years depending on individual needs. Turner says that many veterans programs have tended to treat symptoms rather than the disease — he hopes the center will serve as a catalyst for change in the North Carolina veteran community. “From the beginning, the Veterans Life Center has been all about the veterans we will serve,” he says. “We want to provide a specialized treatment program that helps at-risk veterans avert crises and find a constructive path towards a positive life.”
Turner’s undertaking to provide a new home for veterans has included some twists and turns. “There were times we were down to a couple of thousand dollars in the bank,” he says. But throughout its journey, the Veterans Life Center has received an outpouring of support — from businesses around the state, individual donors, and federal grants. North Carolina senator Richard Burr, former ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, recognized the efforts of Turner and his associates in a 2014 statement: “Their success is a testament to how a small and dedicated group of veterans can help address some of the toughest challenges their fellow veterans are facing and bring government and citizens together to accomplish that important mission.”
Turner recently transitioned into a new role as senior advisor for the Veterans Life Center board — he’s now focused on expansion, fundraising, and policy development. A new executive director, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Thomas Gorry, was appointed to manage operations for the center, leaving Turner free to concentrate on the future.
“Although the Veterans Life Center is a decade in the making, in some ways, our work has just begun,” he says. “We’re on the path to restore, re-educate, and reintegrate American heroes — they stood in harm’s way for our country, and we’re here to provide them with continuing support in return.”