Community's action helps 71-year-old Veteran living in shed get new home
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Elwin Rogers, 71, has worked a lot of jobs over his life, including two years in the Army, and later at Ben Taub Hospital, but had little to show for his labors.
Until Thursday, Rogers lived in a small shed behind a house. He lived without running water and went through the bitter cold this winter.
"It was freezing in there," he told ABC13 Eyewitness News.
He also said he paid $600 a month to the property owners, who maintain that Rogers agreed to the arrangement.
Recently, Maria Rodriguez saw Rogers outside a convenience store, with a sign, asking for help.
"I followed him home and saw the conditions he was living in, which were deplorable," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez posted a video on Facebook, which caught the attention of Princess Pulido.
"He's a 71-year-old man and a veteran," she said. She worked her network of family and friends, and on Thursday evening, Rogers was loaded into a car, his dogs in crates in a truck, and driven to his new home.
Bethel Christian Center of Pasadena provided Rogers with a gently used RV, complete with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The only cost to him will be renting the space on which the RV is hooked up.
Pulido's mother says Bethel Christian Center is also providing furniture, Meals on Wheels will provide Rogers with prepared food, and rescues will be working with him to get veterinary care for his dogs.
Rogers looked at the first bed he's had in a while and smiled. "You know I'm really happy right now, but I knew God had a plan for this," he said.
