Operation Dignity has been providing emergency and transitional housing to homeless veterans and non-veterans since 1993. We have housed more than 875 people since opening. Our goal has always been to quickly take people right off the streets, without a complicated referral process or waiting period.
As a Vietnam Veteran, Alex McElree has sworn to never forget. "We don't leave our people on the battlefield and we consider the streets the battlefield."
After returning from 3 tours of duty in Vietnam, Alex was homeless himself several times and battled alcoholism. When he looked around and saw the number of homeless veterans, he vowed to do what he could to help them. Starting with his own Social Security check, he rented a house in Oakland, bought some beds, and brought home some vets.
From that beginning, Operation Dignity, Inc. has grown to a full-fledged non-profit 501(c)(3) veteran run, service-enriched provider serving the homeless and displaced populations of Alameda County. Our goal is to provide safe housing, nutritious meals, and a full array of services to help homeless veterans and non-veterans so they can being their rehabilitation process. All of our housing offer clean and sober residences with on-site support for sobriety and other self-help groups.
Our residents collaborate with us and help operate the facilities, including both day-to-day operations and long range planning. Many of our residents work at paid staff positions and are compensated for the lower pay rates through reductions in rent and food. We also utilize professional staff from the VA, Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program, the VA Compensated Work Therapy Program, Health Care for the Homeless, Travelers Aid Society, the Jobs Consortium, and BOSS.
Help our veterans and families by directly donating today. $100 can buy 89 meals or job skill training. $50 provides 5 hours of tutoring for our at-risk children. $25 provides 3 days of apartment rent at Dignity Commons. Whatever you give will help us continue to serve our clients. Download and print this form and send it in with your donation today.
Operation Dignity currently has vacancies in several programs. A flyer is available for download and posting. Applications are available during regular business hours.
A copy of our Privacy Notice which describes our policies and practices for processing your personal information is available online in PDF format. We collect personal information directly from you for reasons that are discussed In our privacy statement. We may be required to collect some personal information by law or by organizations that give us money to operate this program. Other personal information that we collect is important to run our programs, to improve services for homeless persons, and to better understand the needs of homeless persons. We only collect information that we consider to be appropriate.
OUR STORY
