Kansas City, Mo. ? Ruben Ruiz came to Kansas City Municipal Court on Saturday with a predicament.

The down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, diabetic and half blind, had been evicted from his Blue Springs residential facility. He was having trouble retrieving his belongings: his clothes, his medicine – even the urn with his wife’s ashes.

“I’m what you call homeless,” Ruiz said.

But Saturday was Kansas City’s 14th Heart of America Stand Down event, in which homeless and struggling veterans can “stand down” from their battles and get some help rebuilding their lives. For Ruiz and hundreds of other veterans, it was a time to share memories and stories, enjoy a hot meal, get mental health and substance abuse counseling, deal with medical and financial issues, and get legal help.

Most of the services were provided at the Manual Career & Tech Center. But more than 100 of the veterans also were able to deal with outstanding traffic offenses and other minor legal matters at Municipal Court.

That’s where Ruiz encountered lawyer Coulter deVries, an Army veteran who has volunteered for years at the Stand Downs.

“You hear more sad stories than you can shake a stick at,” deVries said.

His goal, he said, is to “steer these guys in the right direction” and resolve the nagging legal problems that may keep them from finding a job or a home.

Kansas City attorney Art Fillmore, an Army lieutenant in Vietnam in 1969-1970, helped organize Kansas City’s first Stand Down in 1993.