By John Kelly
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
A Metro Farecard with less than a buck on it is about as useful as a single chopstick or a punctured bicycle tire. It's barely worth the paper it's printed on.
But if you are a homeless veteran, that Farecard -- added to another and another and another-- means mobility. That Farecard, supercharged, could mean getting yourself to a job interview or to a training course.
It could mean getting a job.
That's why, one afternoon a month, Arlington's Dave Mortlock stands at the Virginia Square-GMU Metro station and performs an act of Farecard resurrection, pumping in paper card after paper card and transferring their value to some 60 plastic SmarTrip cards. These he delivers to Ignatia House, a place for veterans in need of help on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest.
The seed was planted years ago, when Dave volunteered at a homeless shelter in Alexandria.
"While I was there I learned that one of the barriers to getting back on your feet is a lack of access to transportation," he said. "They don't have their own cars, and public transportation is really expensive."
That stuck in Dave's mind. And there it stayed while he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, took part in the invasion of Iraq and then mustered out. It was lodged there during a job interview at a local company. An employee pulled open his desk drawer to illustrate one of the fringe benefits: free Metro Farecards.
He never used his. He carpooled.
"I just got thinking it was a wasted resource," said Dave, 29.
So last year he bought some plexiglass boxes and asked to put them out at area hotels, figuring the hotels were full of tourists whose Metro miscalculations had left them with Farecards they'd never use again. So far he's raised $30,000 worth of Metro fare, good for rail and bus.
Dave's in grad school now, doing a joint program to get a master's in international relations from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from Wharton. (What, no MD?) He feels a kinship with his fellow veterans. They feel the same for him. Yesterday at Ignatia House, some of the vets he's been helping learned for the first time that Dave is a vet himself, one who fought in Iraq.
"Welcome back," said Robert Evans, 57, an Army vet who served in Vietnam.
Ignatia House's operations coordinator, Marvin Talley, said the beauty of Dave's effort is that it allows veterans to widen the circle of places they're looking for work.
"We currently have two veterans that were able, because of the cards, to take [commercial driving] classes in Rockville," Marvin said. Another veteran commuted to Virginia to take his class, passed his exam, "and he's on the road as we speak."
E-mail Dave at fareshare@gmail.com for a list of the hotels that have his collection boxes. Or mail me your Farecards -- John Kelly, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 -- and I'll pass them on.
10 Years AfterSpeaking of Marines doing new and interesting things, I received an e-mail recently from one Eaton Dunkelberger, president of the Class of '96 at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Like many SGA types before him, Eaton realized that the price of looking good on college applications is a life spent planning reunions.
And just try doing it from Afghanistan, where Eaton has been living since leaving the U.S. Marine Corps two years ago. A combat leader in Iraq, he wanted to work in the private sector while helping development in a postwar zone. He set up a company in Kabul that distributes information to Afghans over cellphones.
As for the reunion, "Getting in touch with everyone has been a bit tricky," he wrote.
I e-mailed him back suggesting that perhaps he hold the reunion in Kabul.
He agreed that would be interesting, but noted, "I think with the liquor laws and exploding taxis out here, the reunion is best had in Bethesda where everyone can safely cab home after a fun evening!"
And so that's where it will be, at Caddies in Bethesda on Saturday. If you're a classmate, e-mail BCCclassof96@gmail.com. (More reunions are listed at http://www.washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.)
My e-mail: kellyj@washpost.com. Julia Feldmeier helped research this column.
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