LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Cozy inside his Lehigh Acres home, it's hard to imagine veteran Gregory Watts was once homeless.

"At nighttime you get afraid, because you don't know where you going to sleep at," Watts said Thursday.

Today, the Vietnam-era Marine is back on his feet, thanks to the federal HUD-VASH Program. HUD-VASH offers housing vouchers and counseling to homeless vets.

Still, Watts says starting over wasn't easy.

"I didn't have anything when I moved in," Watts said.

That's where Barb Kelly, and 15 Lee County veterans groups come in. They're stepping up and supplementing the program, after noticing a very real need.

"One gentleman was trying to cook in a pie pan. That's unacceptable to me," Kelly said Thursday.

She says there are over 70 known homeless vets in Lee County alone.

"Some of them want to stay in the woods, but the majority I don't believe want to do that," Kelly said.

The volunteers gather furniture, linens, and basic household goods to make starting over a smooth transition.

"It's a house. We want to make them a home. So that they feel like when they walk in, it's not a HUD house, it's their home," she said.

Watts says the group's generosity doesn't just help him get by...it's helping him heal.

"They have given us beds, food, clothes, they've given us hope," Watts said.

For more information on Lee County's HUD-VASH volunteers, email kim.gaide@leememorial.org.