Article content

Robert Praet had served his country in uniform, and damn near ruined his back while he was at it.

Now he was 74, newly arrived in Ottawa during a cold December, sleeping at the Salvation Army, getting the brushoff from welfare and Veterans Affairs Canada, and running out of money.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Egan: When the army calls for help — vets drop-in centre first in Canada Back to video

“That was probably the lowest point,” he says. “The only thing you can compare it to is when you go into basic training and you sleep in bunk beds. But you sleep with one eye open at the Salvation Army.”

Now, who was going to serve him?

An intake worker took his history, which included almost eight years with the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers (ending in 1967), and connected him with a fairly new outfit that might help. “I had no inkling who they were.”

Within a couple of days, he said, four volunteers showed up, hauled him out of the George Street shelter, put him in an apartment, took him for groceries, and offered continued support.