Chris Neloms knows what it's like to be alone.
To feel like an outcast.
To come from a place the rest of us would never dare to go.
To see horrible things we couldn't imagine, and wouldn't want to.
Neloms is a United States Army veteran. He served two tours overseas during Operation Iraqi Freedom at the height of the conflict, in 2003 and 2005.
He signed up to serve when he was 18, legally a man but still a boy in many ways. When he got out, he was 26 and had to start from scratch back in the states, where exploding bombs and a daily sense of danger are no longer the norm.
"You don't fit in anymore," Neloms said of his return to civilian life. "It's just a world I don't know."
Luckily, Neloms found help — from his family, his church and his counselors. But many of the guys he served with in Iraq didn't have that support, or were too scarred from their experiences to seek it out or accept it. Haunted by nightmares or no longer able to relate to "normal" society, they turned to alcohol or drugs or retreated into their own little worlds. After all, being unemployed or homeless is still better than having bullets and rockets flying at you, right?
Today, Neloms wants to make sure that won't happen to others. That's what led the Georgia native to Manasota Operation Troop Support (MOTS), the Bradenton-based organization where he works as a coach and mentor to veterans. As part of his job, Neloms does everything from driving vets to and from their VA appointments to handing out $50 gas and phone cards to those who've fallen on hard times.
"These guys give up," Neloms said. "We're there to give them that push. Once they see you're not just a number, that someone actually cares, they think, 'I can start taking care of myself.' "
MOTS is there to help them get through whatever challenges they face and can offer immediate assistance. There's no other place like it in the area — MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa is a world away for those who might not even have a car or money to pay their electric bill.
"If they have a problem, we try to get it resolved that day," Neloms said. "If we don't have an answer, we know who to call."
MOTS, founded in 2007 by King Middle School teacher Jim Comkowycz, started out as a group that collected and shipped care packages to local troops serving overseas, and that's still its primary mission. But since then MOTS has grown to include a variety of services for returning vets and military families in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Up until a few months ago, MOTS had six full-time employees and offices in both counties. But its primary source of funding — the BRAIVE Fund, a $179,900 grant administered by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Fund — has dried up. Today it's down to just Neloms and director Linda Craig, plus a part-time bookkeeper, working out of their suite in the Lakewood Business Park on 32nd Street West.
And even that might not last much longer.
The grant that funded MOTS was "an anomaly," Craig explains, part of a much larger, one-time contribution by a wealthy individual that was exhausted last month. Craig has saved up enough to cover their $845-a-month rent until May or June. After that time, they'll have to either relocate to a local church that's already offered some space or go back to storing the care packages and supplies in someone's garage the way they used to.
And Craig and Neloms will be out of their jobs.
Neloms, 31, is already planning to go back to school to study physical therapy or natural medicine. And Craig, 55, isn't too worried about her future, either. She's committed to keeping the monthly packages going out to the 68 local troops MOTS serves who are in harm's way in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I'll figure out a way to make that happen," Craig said, and looking into her eyes, you have to believe her.
Craig first got involved in MOTS as a volunteer while her son, Andrew, was deployed in Iraq. At one point, Andrew called home asked her, "Does anybody remember we're here?"
Now that Andrew is safely back in the states, Craig is "kind of like Mom" to all the soldiers she serves. Step inside the MOTS office and, just like an adoring mother, she'll point them out in the pictures plastered all over the walls, telling you about their families, their personalities, their stories.
"They're protecting us," Craig said. "They're walking paths that we don't want to cross."
The care packages from MOTS are a way of reminding the troops that someone back home still cares. Craig spends about $1,000 a month in postage for the boxes, which are individually catered to each troop's request.
Maybe it's a heat wrap to help their aching backs after carrying 30 or more pounds of equipment around in the desert sun.
Maybe it's magazines — nothing too out of date, because that wouldn't be fair to the soldiers, Craig said.
Maybe it's powdered Gatorade or a protein shake they can mix into their water.
Maybe it's granola bars or beef jerky, like National Guard Capt. David Southgate recently requested from Kuwait through MOTS' Facebook page.
Sometimes Craig even ships items that don't exactly fit into the 12-inch-by-12-inch U.S. Postal Service boxes — a guitar, a golf club, a foam mattress pad.
"We aim to please," Craig said.
The Walgreens at Cortez Road and 59th Street West has donated piles of Hershey's chocolate bars and bags of kettle corn. Area mobile home communities gather supplies. Local elementary students write letters to troops they've never met. And individuals contribute by taking part in food drives at Sam's Club — the next one will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Friday.
MOTS also hosts monthly packing parties, where people from the community are invited to come to their warehouse and help stuff the boxes to be shipped overseas. The next packing party will be this Saturday morning.
It's not only the men (and two women) in uniform who benefit from MOTS. Craig and the organization act as a support system for the spouses left behind. It can be as elaborate as the Valentine's Day party they threw for local troops' wives last month — or as simple as Craig and her son going over to help one wife hang up new curtain rods.
What would it be like if MOTS disappeared?
"It would suck," said Bradenton's Kristen Seney, whose husband, Brian, is a U.S. Army sergeant deployed in Iraq. When Seney recently experienced some health problems, Craig helped her find temporary daycare for the couple's 1-year-old son, Luke.
When Brian was home last month for two weeks of R&R, MOTS treated the Seneys to a night out to dinner and an overnight stay at the Londoner Bed & Breakfast, something they provide for all returning local troops. They also bought some extra presents for Luke at Christmas time. But most of all, Kristen says, she's thankful for Craig and the organization because they understand what she's going through and can help with the challenges she faces while her husband is away serving his country.
"Some family members don't understand," Seney said.
That thought is echoed by Christa Southgate, David's wife.
"MOTS is the only place to have a connection to people going through what I'm going through," said Southgate, whose husband is in Kuwait.
David Southgate is a 17-year veteran of the National Guard and on his second tour overseas, so Christa is no stranger to the military family lifestyle. But she said MOTS helps by directing her to the local resources, incentives and discounts that are available for military spouses — a service that could disappear along with MOTS' funding.
"What we need is a big benefactor," said Craig, sizing up the organization's future. "Every day, you just get up and try to find money. We're like every other charity I guess. We just rely on the goodness of people."
The organization isn't quite big enough to apply for some of the larger federal grants that are out there for such groups, though Craig is considering trying that avenue in the near future. For now, she's just taking it month by month, making sure the care packages still go out and that needs are met.
No matter what happens to MOTS, Craig said she'll see to it that the local servicemen and women and their families aren't forgotten.
"These are our neighbors," Craig said. "People need to remember we have troops very far from home."
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