‘Wow this is mine:’ Jacksonville veteran gets a new home with the help of local non-profit

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville veteran is opening the doors to his new apartment with the help of a local non-profit.

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Patriot Services Group is helping invest in affordable housing for veterans and others.

Derrick Wilkes is a veteran who learned about the nonprofit when he was at Sulzbacher just three weeks ago.

And with its help, last Friday, he got the keys to his first home in roughly 9 years.

“Once I came in here, I was like ‘Wow this is mine,’” said Wilkes.

Derrick is now getting settled in at Patriot Plaza on University Club Boulevard. That is one of the nonprofit’s Jacksonville properties.

“I got a table, an air mattress, and a couple of chairs,” said Wilkes.

And just 15 minutes down the road is its now second property called Patriot Spring on Market in Springfield.

The nonprofit is restoring the 100-year-old Lauderdale Apartment buildings to help provide low-income housing for the community and for veterans just like Derrick.

The $2.8 million project will create 17 clean, safe, and affordable homes at 2nd and N. Market.

Construction on the apartments starts this week, and it should be done in about 10 months to a year.

“That is our job to rapidly re-house people who have these stories, who may have a past, and they are good people, and oftentimes we give a second or third chance to those people,” said Paul Anderson, the Executive Director of Patriot Services.

Derrick is forever grateful he gets to call Patriot Plaza home.

“I kept focus on the end results and what can happen, and I just didn’t give up at all,” said Wilkes.

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