We serve as an advocate and referral agency for women veterans in Durham, Orange, and Wake County.
North Carolina ranks as the state with the sixth largest female veteran population (over 66 thousand as of September 2008). At least 7,609 of these women veterans live in our service area.
Our Mission is:
To obtain help with immediate needs, such as shelter, food, and clothing, and transition aid through existing networks and resources
To help women veterans receive the benefits to which they and their families are entitled and also connect them to community support
To navigate the often-complex process of benefits application
To ease the stress for women veterans who file claims for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and help them through the process.
To establish the only women veteran facility in the triangle area that accepts children
The Problem of Homeless Women Veterans
According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, 6,500 (5%) of the 130,000 homeless vets on any given night are women. Female veterans are twice as likely to become homeless as women who never served in the military, the government's latest data show.
"Women veterans are one of the fastest-growing segments of the homeless veteran population," says John Driscoll, who heads the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
According to official reports, there are nearly 500 homeless veterans of both sexes living in our area. There are also many uncounted homeless veterans living in the wooded areas in and around the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Our volunteers have spoken with them.
