Dryhootch: The coffeehouse that serves a cup of joe while helping veterans get back on their feet

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On the outside, it looks like your typical, cute local go-to coffee spot, but on the inside, it's so much more than that. 

On the well-traveled stretch of Brady Street on Milwaukee's East Side in between the bars, shops, and restaurants you'll come across a warm spot for a cup of Joe.

"When I came here, I began hearing about this place called Dryhootch, Dryhootch, Dryhootch, and how they help veterans, and I came over here," said Otis Winstead.

Dryhootch has been a staple for east-siders for the past 15 years.

"In Vietnam, 'hootch' was a place you live in, you lived in a hootch, so, you know, tie that with dry and that being alcohol but nowadays it can be drugs or whatever else it is," explained Bob Curry, the founder of the coffee place.

Anyone can stop in for a cup, but its focus is geared toward veterans- especially those who deal with issues of drug addiction, alcoholism and PTSD.

" I did six years, I served with 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan, and then after that… I had enough, so I made sure I got duty station in a place a little bit more low key," said Levi Marker. "And that was fort Irwin, California, and I got out in 2013."

Marker told CBS 58 Sunday Morning that he was just 22 years old when he deployed to Afghanistan.

"When I came back, I, I still tried to act like I was in the army, still partied and drank, you know, still had an attitude that I was a warrior and other than that, I wanted to be left alone," he said.

Marker said he became suicidal.

"Civilian world seemed, like, real fake, like all like a façade and so I was drinking to, like, kind of not feel that way," he said. "Well, I ended up, like, beating up my father and brother-in-law in the dells and got arrested; and I was looking at six years in prison…my son's, at this point, maybe two months old. "

He turned his life around by going to therapy and doing community and service at Dryhootch back in 2013.

Now, Marker is the director of the nonprofit.

"I was blessed to go into the service, blessed to be a veteran but the biggest blessing is being able to help those guys who actually were in combat," added Winstead.

Otis Winstead is now the president and CEO of Dryhootch and told us he was in the service during the Vietnam era. Stationed in Fort Ord, California, for three years in the Artillery Unit as an administrator.

"Initially, this was built for men transitioning out of the military combat side but what we found out was that when you talk about trauma, anyone that has been in the military can and lot of times does experience trauma," he said.

Curry, the founder of Dryhootch was 18 when he enlisted in the army. He spent three years in Laos.

"When we got down, we could see a bunch of people protesting about Vietnam...I took my uniform and put it in the garbage can," Curry said.

Unlike soldiers returning home from World War II, praised like heroes, there were no victory parades or welcome home rallies for Vietnam veterans.

"The misconception is that society sometimes feels like the vet is saying that 'you owe us something,' he ain't really saying that…what he's simply saying is 'give me the opportunity to try to understand it, really just listen to my story.," said Winstead.

Curry said flashbacks of his time in war were present even years after he left.

"I started drinking quite a bit and so, I spiraled for the next 10 years or so," Curry admitted. "And I would try like every other person that struggles with that and then I got into an accident and when I was out drunk, and I killed a person."

In October 2002, Curry spent several months in jail after colliding with a motorcyclist on a highway. He was charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle. The jury in the 8-day trial found him not guilty by reason of insanity.

"Which had never been tested with PTSD," he said.

When Curry was released from the state's mental institution, he came up with the idea of a coffeehouse.

"That something terrible had happened, that, that out of this, part of it is responsibility that, that I wanted to do, that I couldn't pay back that person but I could maybe help other people from not being in that situation," Curry stated.

It's been a long road back for Curry - since taking responsibility for the tragedy, his organization has impacted countless others in an equally rough place - eventually seeing Dryhootch earn recognition among the most effective outreach organizations in the city and expanding to a second Milwaukee-area location in 2014.

"Oh, I mean, that was, I still, you know, I still shake from that," Curry said.

The nonprofit offers free services from transportation to legal advice, and a peer support app where veterans can remain anonymous.

"It's the fact that somebody else understands you, and what Dryhooch does is in our training program, it's about peer support and how to train somebody to be able to share your experience in therapeutic way that's going to help them understand that they need to make their own plan to make their life better," Marker said.