More Than a House: How VA’s TR House Helped One Veteran Begin Again
By Janelle Beswick, Public affairs officer
For many Veterans, returning home isn’t the end of the war—it’s just the beginning of a new one. For Veteran Marine David Reeves, his personal battles ultimately led him to healing and purpose at the Grand Island VA Medical Center.
Today, he is the Kitchen Manager at the Grand Island VA. But his journey to get there started long before that—in personal battles with addiction and homelessness, and then through the support and structure of the Compensated Work Therapy/Transitional Residence (CWT/TR) Program, better known as TR House.
Reeves served eight years in the Marines as a Data Network Specialist, deploying to Iraq in 2008 and to Helmand Province, Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. After returning home, he was stationed in St. Louis before a severe ankle injury led to medical discharge in 2013.
“I was angry,” he admits. “I didn’t want anything to do with the government. I wanted to be left alone.”
That anger turned inward, and by 2014, he was homeless and struggling with substance use. By 2016, he was living in a tent near a zoo campground in Nebraska.
With winter looming and no shelter, he checked into a community detox center in Grand Island, and that center connected him to VA health care.
Entering TR House: A Bridge to Stability
After completing inpatient treatment through the VA’s substance abuse residential rehabilitation treatment program, Reeves was referred to the TR House in early 2017. The CWT/TR Program offers Veterans a structured living environment, vocational rehabilitation, and wraparound support services as they work toward reintegration into the community and workforce.
For him, CWT meant working in the VA kitchen—a job that would become a path to leadership.
“TR House gave me time,” he explains. “It’s usually a one-year program, but my transition took longer than normal due to employment barriers. They helped me for two and a half years until I could get through some hurdles and move out on my own. No other program would do that. But the VA did.”
He worked in the kitchen through CWT for three years before officially becoming a VA employee. By 2022, he was promoted to Kitchen Manager.
A Model of Recovery in Action
His transformation is exactly what the TR House program is designed to support. Veterans facing homelessness, addiction, or unemployment receive more than temporary shelter—they get structure, purpose, and a team invested in their success.
“I’ve done civilian treatment programs before—30 days and you’re out, no plan, and I went right back to the streets,” he says. “The VA stuck with me. They gave me time to get it right.”
Advice to Fellow Veterans: “Stick with It”
Now several years into stable employment and living in recovery, he encourages Veterans who need help to reach out.
“If you’re in TR House—stick with it. Do the full year. Don’t rush it,” he advises. “There’s no other place that gives you this kind of support. You’re in the right place.”
From a tent in the snow to a leader at VA, his story is a reminder of what’s possible when Veterans are given the tools, time, and trust they need to rebuild.