Webster, N.Y. – Back in 2007, David Kendrick carried a rifle and little self-doubt.
“I had the title Sgt. Kendrick, I had the respect of my peers and it all got stripped away,” Kendrick said.
On June 17, 2007 Kendrick was on patrol in Iraq.
“On my way back to my truck I just heard a loud crack, I blacked out and I fell to the ground,” he said.
A sniper pierced both his legs.
The injury meant the war, for David, was over.
Last year, David returned to his hometown of Rochester with two bad legs and that invisible wound, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“I knew I was home and not in a combat zone, but I was still looking in windows because you never know what’s going to happen anywhere you are,” David said.
David’s life spiraled.
“It was a sad time, I’d drink myself to sleep, nobody wanted to be a around me,” he said.
Stories like David’s are what inspired Sankar Sewnauth, CEO of CDS, a local non-profit that works with people with disabilities.
“I said to myself, ‘We have to step up,’” Sewnauth said.
Sewnauth saw an opportunity to help veterans through CDS.
He started a program called Warrior SALUTE, which offers a host of services including counseling, physical therapy, housing, job training and job placement.
“We’ve taken the comprehensive approach,” Sewnauth said. “I don’t know if there’s anyone like this because it requires a lot of resources and a lot of attention.”
When David arrived at the Webster facility, he was given a key to his own apartment and a manager’s role at the non-profit’s spice plant in the city.
“You get a lot of lip service like, ‘Yeah, we want to support out troops and stuff,’ but here I actually felt it,” David said.
David left the six-month program a few months ago.
He’s now working and speaking to various groups, touting SALUTE along the way.
“I went from Sgt. Kendrick to David and nobody cared about David, but now I’m David the somebody,” he said.
Sewnauth says they’re beginning to get referrals from across the country adding there’s still room for more veterans.
Warriors Salute is funded solely through donations.
Learn moreabout the
Warrior Salute Program.
