For Cecilia Schonian, one of the hardest parts of living in her car was simply finding a place to park.

She learned to avoid malls and shopping centers, where security guards quickly rousted alleged loiterers. Instead, she sought out the well-lit parking lots of hotels and motels across the East Bay.

Once there, she’d peer out of her windows with a dash of envy at people sleeping indoors just feet away.

The turning point came when Schonian, 37, walked through the front doors of Swords to Plowshares, an organization with 50 years of experience helping homeless and impoverished military veterans such as herself.

“It just felt like I was at home,” said Schonian, who served for five years in the Air Force as an active-duty airman, as well as another two years in the Air Force Reserves, before leaving the service with untreated post-traumatic stress.

Just last year, the nonprofit helped more than 3,100 military veterans, according to its 2023 annual report. Nearly 45% of those people had been homeless when they sought help, having spent an average of more than three years without a permanent indoor place to live.

Many of those people were placed into one of the nonprofit’s 500 housing units that it operates across the Bay Area, while others were offered rental assistance.

The nonprofit also helped connect veterans to mental health care, doled out more than 100,000 meals and distributed nearly 1,000 gun locks to help stem the tide of suicides among former military service members.

Nearly a year after first visiting the nonprofit, Schonian lives in her own apartment and works at the organization’s Oakland Service Center. For Schonian, the goal is to help other military veterans escape that same cycle of homelessness that led her to the nonprofit.

HOW TO HELP

Donations will support Swords to Plowshares’ Oakland Service Center, which provides direct services for 500 East Bay veterans annually. Funding will help meet 100 veterans’ basic needs by providing emergency housing, food and gas vouchers, hygiene kits, and holiday backpacks.

Goal: $35,000