Victor Craig came looking for a little help with life on the streets, but he left with something that might save his life, period.

Craig, 55, found out Thursday from volunteers at the 10th annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans that his blood pressure was dangerously high.

"At least I got blood, right?" Craig joked.

Craig was one of dozens of men and women who attended the one-day event at City Auditorium, where some 120 volunteers - about half of them soldiers and airmen - composed an army of aid. They formed assembly lines full of clothes, food, toiletries, eyeglasses and other items that make up a typical grocery bill for most people but are invaluable and hard to find for the downtrodden. A barber provided free haircuts, and others handed out bus passes and phone cards.

And the vets received medical services such as blood-pressure readings and dental exams, plus advice on follow-up care.

In fact, Jack Freeman, homeless program coordinator for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, offered to take Craig to a clinic immediately for his high blood pressure. But the man with the weathered face and long peppered beard declined, saying he would go the next day to a doctor who regularly treats the homeless.

The dental exams revealed severe decay, said dental assistant Michele Russell, with the Veterans Affairs Clinic. Some teeth were so bad that nerves that were no doubt excruciating at one time had lost their sensitivity. She and dental hygienist Kelly Haptonstall pointed vets to Peak Vista Community Health Centers, which runs a dental program for the homeless.

Bill Silvas, a nurseand lab technician with the VA, had administered about 50 flu shots by noon, he said.

The goal of the effort was not about ways to make the homeless more comfortable, Freeman said, but to link people with the many local services that can help them find jobs, health care and a path off the streets. The hope is that new clothes, a haircut, bus passes and the like, combined with programs willing to help, will act as tools to find employment.

The VA conducts Stand Down programs nationwide. Veterans make up one of the largest groups of people living on the streets, with an estimated 115 in Colorado Springs.

Freeman said at least a few veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become homeless.

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Contact the writer: 636-0198 or brian.newsome@gazette.com