Need immediate veteran housing assistance? Call 24/7 Support: (800) 555-DERRICK

Partner / Donate
Get Started

FOUNDER & MISSION • LIVING THE PURPOSE

From Lived Experience to a Sacred Duty

Seventeen years in corrections and mental health casework combined with personal recovery inspired Andre J. White to build a sanctuary of dignity, brotherhood, and accountability for Texas veterans.
Our Housing Model
Support the Mission

17+ Years

Corrections & Mental Health

Lived Recovery

Personal Truth & Empathy

In Loving Honor

Of Derrick White

ORIGIN & CONVICTION

The Calling & Lived Journey

Derrick’s Place was not conceived in a boardroom. It was forged through two decades on the frontline of human vulnerability, criminal justice, and real recovery.

PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATION

Frontline Corrections & Youth Group Homes

Andre dedicated over seventeen years serving inside institutional corrections, community-based youth group homes, and adult psychiatric stabilization units. Over nearly two decades, he witnessed the same painful pattern repeat continuously: individuals released with clinical discharge plans and prescriptions, but zero safe, sober roof over their heads.
Without structured housing, even the most determined veterans slid backwards within weeks into relapse, hospital recidivism, or incarceration. Andre knew the missing linchpin was not more paperwork—it was an intimate, structured, and respectful home.

17 Years Direct Casework & Behavioral Intervention

PERSONAL TRUTH

Lived Recovery & Unbreakable Empathy

Andre does not view residents through clinical detachment. Having navigated his own path of long-term recovery, he knows the raw gravity of losing your footing, facing stigma, and fighting to reclaim dignity when the world has stopped believing in you.
This firsthand experience shapes how Derrick’s Place operates daily: zero tolerance for condescension, high personal accountability, unconditional respect, and a deep understanding that relapse prevention requires daily brotherhood, peer honesty, and meaningful personal goals.

Led by Someone Who Has Walked the Path

A LIVING MEMORIAL

Why Derrick's Place

The home carries the name of Andre’s son, Derrick. Dedicated in his loving memory, every room, shared meal, and morning muster is infused with a parent’s commitment to honor life through service.
Deepening this mission is Andre’s wife, a veteran whose military service gave Andre an insider’s appreciation for the unique sacrifices and quiet burdens carried by those who served. When combined with Montgomery County’s urgent need for sober veteran stabilization, Derrick’s Place became a solemn imperative.

A Father's Promise & A Veteran Family

“Derrick's name stands over our door because love doesn't end when someone departs. It turns outward to care for others who are still fighting to come all the way home.”

THE HOUSING-FIRST CONVICTION

“Housing comes first. Without a stable home, a veteran cannot meaningfully engage
with employment, healthcare, or any of
the
other support that helps them rebuild
their
lives.”

At Derrick’s Place, we refuse to treat housing as a conditional reward earned at the end of treatment. A secure bed, peaceful surroundings, nutritious communal meals, and respect are the baseline prerequisites without which no healing can even begin.

100% Drug & Alcohol Free

Structured Living Environment

8-Resident Maximum

For True Brotherhood & Intimacy

OPERATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

Three Core Leadership Principles

How Andre J. White and the leadership team run Derrick’s Place every single day to ensure lasting life transformation.

PRINCIPLE 01

Accountability with Dignity

We hold the line on sobriety, daily chores, curfew, and mutual courtesy—not with institutional severity, but with familial dignity. High standards communicate to a veteran that his life still matters and that he is capable of great self-discipline.

Structured Daily Routines

PRINCIPLE 02

Founder-Led Oversight

Andre personally conducts resident intake interviews, liaises directly with VA caseworkers, and shares meals at the table. Residents are never an anonymous case file number; they know their director by name and see him in the house weekly.

Direct Daily Engagement

PRINCIPLE 03

Brotherhood & Reintegration

Large transient shelters create sensory overload and anonymity. Our 8-bed residential model mirrors an authentic military squad: shared accountability, peer mentoring, mutual guard over one another’s recovery, and calm brotherhood in Montgomery County.

Intimate Squad Dynamic

JOIN THE MISSION

Ready to Help Us Write the Next Chapter?

Whether you are a VA caseworker looking to place a veteran, a community advocate, or a supporter ready to invest in lasting recovery, we welcome you.
Submit a Referral
Support Derrick's Place