CLEVELAND, Ohio — Because of his service in the United States Navy, many people walking the halls of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center consider Kelvin Green a hero. But he says it wasn’t until he started working here that he felt he was really serving. 

The U.S Navy veteran says he’s experienced many hardships in life since being introduced to drugs in his teens. 

“At the time I didn’t realize that I was actually addicted, I thought it was a social thing, but it became far more than that,” Green said.

For thirty years, Green was addicted to crack cocaine, and this eventually led him to becoming homeless between the years of 2009 and 2013. It wasn’t until he was advised to come to Veterans Affairs that he realized he could turn his life around with the help of their programs and services . 

“The domiciliary, the V.A.R.C program ...wow, the drug counseling, just to be able to, you know, sit and tell people my story and for them to relate and not judge me — that meant a lot not being judged, because at the time I didn't realize that people that I was talking to also had the same journey in their life,” he said.

He utilized the vocational rehabilitation program to help him get a job at the VA with environmental management service. 

“In 2017, I got the phone call to come in for the orientation for the interview for here, and been here ever since,” he said.

On any given day, you’ll find Green making sure the hallways of this VA are picture perfect — dust and dirt free, trash cans emptied, and keeping just about everyone he comes in contact with smiling. 

”Sometimes I feel guilty for being for getting paid for doing what I do. It’s so much fun. It's like coming here and seeing extended family members and just kicking it.”

Green calls the past few years the best years of his life. He’s been clean and he says he’s blessed to be working at the place he credits for saving his life. 

“It’s just a matter of paying it forward. They were there for me, I got to be there for them,” he said.