Editor's note: This is part 3 in a three-part series on Chesterfield's homeless population. To read parts 1 and 2, visit www.chesterfieldobserver.com and search the archives using the keyword, "homeless."

Dave has a master's degree in finance, multiple sclerosis, a drinking problem and is currently homeless.

"I was making up to $250,000 a year, but I'm allergic to alcohol. Every time I drink it, I break out in handcuffs!" he says.

After receiving his third DUI in 10 years, Dave was sentenced to 90 days in jail and then shipped off to a "halfway house" in Charlottesville far from the home in northern Virginia he'd shared with his parents while caring for them. When he got out, he called his brother in Richmond to come get him.

"I wanted to live with my brother, but he's got a small place and too many steps because I have MS. I couldn't return to the house I had with my parents because they'd been moved into a nursing home."

Instead, Dave went about setting up his new life in downtown Richmond by renting a room at a motel and was just about to start a job at a local supermarket working the night shift when he took a fall in the middle of Broad Street and couldn't get up. The police took him to the hospital where he spent four weeks receiving treatment for lesions on his brain. From there he entered a medical respite program and then went directly into a CARITAS (Congregations Around Richmond Involved to Assure Shelter) program for the homeless.

"Every night we're sleeping in churches. I don't complain about everything. It's like being in a prison with better food!"

Dave chuckles after enjoying his supper as a guest of the New Life United Methodist Church (UMC) in Chesterfield.

According to CARITAS' latest annual report, the organization "is the largest and most inclusive emergency shelter in central Virginia, providing immediate shelter to individuals and families. It is an organization of volunteers where every week guests [the homeless] are greeted by a new congregation that welcomes them in and provides food, shelter and fellowship."

Every time a congregation opens its doors, guests are given a change of scenery, bathroom facilities and, most important of all, a new faith family that helps them feel valued and respected while receiving two home-cooked meals each day during the standard Saturday to Saturday stay.

Currently there are 42 congregations in Chesterfield participating in the CARITAS program. Eric Swagger recently served as the nighttime coordinator during the summer week when New Life UMC hosted 35 CARITAS guests.

"We do it once a year, and we look forward to it," says Swagger, who makes it a family affair along with wife, Julia, daughters Stacy, Sandy and Mary, and even the family dog.

Swagger estimates it takes about 1,000 volunteer hours to prepare for the church's host week, with him personally dedicating about 45 hours onsite and behind the scenes.

"The biggest thing we get out of the experience is the fellowship -- hearing our guests' stories like 'I got a job today!' or 'I got an apartment today!' while they are moving up and getting out of CARITAS on their way to being self-sufficient. They are wonderful people. They clean up. They help put the church back together. They're very grateful for what we do, and we're very grateful for them."

CARITAS Executive Director Karen Stanley, also a Chesterfield County resident, has been involved with the organization for 13 years. She began as a volunteer and stuck with it because "I just think everyone deserves to have the basic needs of shelter and food met. In America, I think that's the least we can expect in this country."

Through its partnership with religious congregations -- more than 170 throughout the region - CARITAS provides the cots, linens and roundtrip bus transportation to and from that week's host site to areas downtown each day. Once downtown, many of the homeless meet with their case managers and doctors, while sometimes meeting up with family, hanging out in parks or even panhandling to make an extra buck.

While in the program, CARITAS participants also look out for one another, building friendships as they are assigned to groups that stay together when moving from place to place. Dave's friend, "Captain" Jerry loves to joke about their friendship saying, "He's Frick, I'm Frack! He's got a walker, and I've got a cane!"

Like his friend with MS, Jerry also has serious health problems, including two artificial hips, blood clots and a heart murmur. They are both on essential medications that are transported for them by CARITAS volunteers as they move from location to location.

"I've led a rather lucrative, cool life so far. So, for the life of me, I've never been homeless, and I can't believe I'm here," says Jerry, a 20-year Army veteran who served in Kuwait as a soldier in Desert Shield before being convicted of a "botched robbery without a weapon" a few years back. A former commercial fisherman by trade, "Captain" Jerry says he'll return to his boat someday.

Another buddy, James, finds himself homeless for the second time.

"I want people to know that it's rough out here, you know what I'm sayin?'" he says. "Dealing with the homeless is a crucial subject. People in this situation are begging for help - like better job training programs - and they feel like they don't fit in. Like, they should have graduated from high school, or they should have gone to college, but people don't know what their families were like or how their backgrounds might have made it so difficult for them to be successful."

A 2007 study by Homeward, the region's planning and coordinating organization for homeless services, indicates there are many factors leading to a person becoming homeless. More than 66 percent of homeless persons surveyed had served some time in jail, 45.5 percent had a high school education or GED, while 23 percent attended some college and 8.4 percent have a college degree or higher. Thirty-four percent experienced domestic violence in their lifetime, while 44.7 percent reported having a problem with alcohol. Additionally, 36.5 percent reported having a mental health problem, and 52.3 percent said they had a problem with substance abuse sometime in their life.

"On any given day, 1,150 people experience homelessness in the region with Chesterfield residents accounting for 5.6 percent of the homeless population," says Kelly King Horne, Homeward's executive director.

Upon arrival at New Life UMC on the last night of their stay, Dave, Jerry and James are greeted with cheerful smiles, hugs and high fives by the Swagger family and other congregants, who moments earlier had been racing around as though they were preparing a surprise party for a loved one. Chatter fills the room as their tired guests file in and head to their cots to drop off the things they carry and wash up for supper.

Sweaty from being out in the heat all day, Dave was happy to report he'd found an apartment.

At the table next to him, James said, "I've been homeless before. I have pulled myself out of it before, and I will again."

Swagger looks over and says, "The week has gone very well."

Check out more stories in this edition of the Chesterfield Observer, now a weekly publication.