Native veterans face unique challenges after service. MACV is there to help.
MINNEAPOLIS — Army veteran Delphine Littlewolf and her 7-year-old son Curtis have been living in her compact car for six months.
Like many on the street, life had caught up with her — that's when the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) stepped in. They first worked to gain her trust and now are supporting her through some legal troubles.
"I kind of lost hope a long time ago," Littlewolf said.
A program offering to help didn't work out.
"My counselor quit, my psychiatrist quit. A lot of the supports that I needed kind of failed me," Littlewolf said.
After leaving the service, Delphine dealt with bouts of depression
Following the birth of her son, post-partum set in and she did all she could to make sure he was safe as she lived life as a homeless veteran.
"He is usually inside somewhere. He will go stay at a cousin's or relative's or something, and I usually just go park somewhere in the area. We take naps together in the back seat when he is stressed out," Littlewolf said.
A proud member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, it was hard for her to trust anyone who offered help to change her situation.
Littlewolf resisted staying in a homeless shelter, she says, for good reason.
"In all honesty, how many women that I know are Native and had children and still went missing from somewhere like that. The numbers are ridiculous," Littlewolf said.
Her trauma comes from having a family member missing and feared taken against her will.
"My niece, Nevaeh, who has been missing since 2022, she had one of the brightest spirits I've ever seen in my life and I kind of believe she may have been on her way down here," Littlewolf said.
Nevaeh Kingbird, 15, is still missing. Volunteers from around Minnesota came together with local, tribal, state and federal investigators, covering 150-plus acres near Bemidji.
"When you've had that happened or it happening to your family, that fear and that trauma is real," Amanda Hooper said.
Army veteran and MACV Senior Outreach Coordinator Amanda Hooper understands why Littlewolf would pick sleeping in her car over staying at a shelter.
"Being an Indigenous woman, when you look at females, the percentages of women that go missing from shelters and percentages of the BIPOC community that go missing from shelters or from the homeless community, it's astounding," Hooper said.
Lifflewolf's problems were not quite over. MACV learned she had active warrants for her arrest from things she did while living on the streets caught up with her.
When an outreach coordinator went downtown to pay her warrants, she was arrested.
"I've never been made to feel like a charity case or anything lesser than anyone, " Littlewolf said.
Veterans trying to escape homelessness who have legal or drug issues are some of the hardest to place in housing. However, MACV did not give up.
Outreach coordinator James McCloden worked to place her son with a relative and get her car to a safe place.
"I had to show up and be honest and try and let somebody help me," LIttlewolf said.
Littlewolf's legal troubles prevent her from being eligible for housing, but MACV is committed to helping her.
MACV continues to work towards Minnesota being the fourth state in the country to declare functional zero or no more homeless veterans.
Veterans left on the registry to find housing are the hardest to place because of their past. MACV and its partners are committed to making sure they get someplace to call home for the holidays.
In addition to reaching out to the VA or MACV, veterans can call 988 for mental health support. After calling, press 1 for free, confidential support from someone familiar with military culture.