Fixing mistakes of the past: Mather Community Campus celebrates

Top: Twenty of the 39 eligible Mather Community Campus graduates, including Hugo Gruner (above),
pose for a pre-commencement event photo May 20.
To watch a short video of the event, click here.

"I'd been homeless for six years – living in a barn in Galveston," said Hugo Gruner, a 55-year-old former Army medic with two tours of duty and a Purple Heart to his credit. Also on his bio: a shrapnel-damaged knee (suffered during a Reserves stint in Iraq), and an only recently diagnosed case of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

"That didn't get me homeless, but it kept me homeless," Gruner said. "I lost touch with life, I didn't care about myself of anybody – that's how I became homeless."

It was a grown son in Sacramento who led Gruner to the River City. "He saw himself walking down my path – I came to Sacramento to make sure he didn't make the same mistakes I made," Gruner said.

"When I got here, people told me Volunteers of America was the place to go. 'You gotta go to Mather,' they said."

Mather Community Campus, a nationally recognized two-year transitional housing and job-training program, is a collaborative effort of several Sacramento-based social-service agencies, including Volunteers of America, Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center, PRIDE Industries and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency.

On May 20, MCC held its annual commencement ceremony. Gruner – an MCC honors graduate – was among the 39 formerly homeless men and women who graduated this year, with 30 from Volunteers of America's program for singles, and nine from the Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center's "family site." (To watch a short video of the event, click here.)

One of two featured speakers, Gruner told his fellow 2009 graduates – most of whom are 20 to 30 years his junior – that despite adversity, "It's possible to live your dream, as long as you stick to it and keep your faith."

Family and friends, as well as local dignitaries, joined the blue-robed graduates for the evening ceremony hosted by John Amato, senior mental health specialist for the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services.

Among the dignitaries joining Amato to offer their congratulations were: Don Nottoli, County Supervisor Fifth District; Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance; and Tim Brown, director of the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative.

Following performances by Terry Dunning and Terrell Jammer, Gruner and family-site alumna Sherry Celio both offered emotional and heartfelt speeches.

"One of the things I've learned, is that never let obstacles stand between you and your chosen objectives – great or small. I'm not letting anything stand in my way, or taking 'no' for an answer," said Gruner, a healthcare worker who now lives independently in a Rancho Cordova apartment not far from MCC.

To date, Mather Community Campus has served more than 2,000 adults and children since the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance-funded program opened in 1995.

Fixing mistakes of the past: Mather Community Campus celebrates

Top: Twenty of the 39 eligible Mather Community Campus graduates, including Hugo Gruner (above),
pose for a pre-commencement event photo May 20.
To watch a short video of the event, click here.

"I'd been homeless for six years – living in a barn in Galveston," said Hugo Gruner, a 55-year-old former Army medic with two tours of duty and a Purple Heart to his credit. Also on his bio: a shrapnel-damaged knee (suffered during a Reserves stint in Iraq), and an only recently diagnosed case of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

"That didn't get me homeless, but it kept me homeless," Gruner said. "I lost touch with life, I didn't care about myself of anybody – that's how I became homeless."

It was a grown son in Sacramento who led Gruner to the River City. "He saw himself walking down my path – I came to Sacramento to make sure he didn't make the same mistakes I made," Gruner said.

"When I got here, people told me Volunteers of America was the place to go. 'You gotta go to Mather,' they said."

Mather Community Campus, a nationally recognized two-year transitional housing and job-training program, is a collaborative effort of several Sacramento-based social-service agencies, including Volunteers of America, Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center, PRIDE Industries and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency.

On May 20, MCC held its annual commencement ceremony. Gruner – an MCC honors graduate – was among the 39 formerly homeless men and women who graduated this year, with 30 from Volunteers of America's program for singles, and nine from the Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center's "family site." (To watch a short video of the event, click here.)

One of two featured speakers, Gruner told his fellow 2009 graduates – most of whom are 20 to 30 years his junior – that despite adversity, "It's possible to live your dream, as long as you stick to it and keep your faith."

Family and friends, as well as local dignitaries, joined the blue-robed graduates for the evening ceremony hosted by John Amato, senior mental health specialist for the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services.

Among the dignitaries joining Amato to offer their congratulations were: Don Nottoli, County Supervisor Fifth District; Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance; and Tim Brown, director of the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative.

Following performances by Terry Dunning and Terrell Jammer, Gruner and family-site alumna Sherry Celio both offered emotional and heartfelt speeches.

"One of the things I've learned, is that never let obstacles stand between you and your chosen objectives – great or small. I'm not letting anything stand in my way, or taking 'no' for an answer," said Gruner, a healthcare worker who now lives independently in a Rancho Cordova apartment not far from MCC.

To date, Mather Community Campus has served more than 2,000 adults and children since the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance-funded program opened in 1995.