LYNCHBURG, Va. – Carroll Reeves is a well-decorated WWII veteran. He's 92 years young and when we met with him Friday morning, he was trying to figure out which key opens his door. But that's because he hasn't been living in his new apartment at Jefferson House on Langhorne Road very long.
"This home is a lot better than the last one I had. I walked in here I could feel the presence of the goodness. That's how good it felt. It was nice and warm in here,” Reeves said.
Reeves used to live in a common home on Taylor Street in Lynchburg, where he rented a room, but shared the house with other people.
"If I walk out the house and leave money laying around, It was gone when I got back in there,” Reeves said.
But then, the Lynchburg Area Veterans Council, heard about his living conditions.
"The need was identified at Monument Terrace. They talked to him about his housing situations because he came but he was always very hungry. We'd have cookies and snacks there. But he'd eat like he hadn't eaten for a day a two,” Chuck Olsen, president of Lynchburg Area Veterans Council, said.
The organization quickly thought something has got to change. In a day, the group moved Reeves out, paid more than $1,200 for his first month’s rent and deposit, and brought him new furniture on Friday.
Reeves says, he's very grateful. He shared with 10 News how hard it was serving in WWII as an African-American man. But the veterans in the Hill City have showed him times have changed.
"(They are the) best bunch of people I ever met. Those veterans down there. How they got together, love each other. They've done a lot for me. They helped me a lot,” Reeves said.