Grace Haven in Great Falls is the first women’s veteran shelter in the state. Almost a year after their opening, all four of their residents have found a home and employment in the community. They are now working on the building to double their capacity.
Aneesa Coomer reports - watch:
Led and supported by St. Vincent dePaul of North Central Montana, Grace Haven provides a stable environment for women veterans to get back on their feet. Over the past year, they have had four furnished rooms open, with their first four residents recently finding permanent housing. They are now taking the opportunity of the empty building to renovate, so their second floor can open up and provide four additional rooms, including a fire suppression system that Grace Haven saved up for donor and grant funds.
Grace Haven Director Mary Hoy says, “It's like an enormous success story for us to see our residents find permanent housing and no longer need our assistance. Now we're ready to begin phase two, which is to do the fire suppression system, add an accessible kitchen, add a bathroom on our second floor, and furnish our four bedrooms on our second floor as well.”
Jennifer Ramirez Thompson was one of the first residents of Grace Haven, finding it through the Veterans Treatment Court program and staying for around a year. She says, “I was able to get my children back from CPS, so they really helped provide stability and safety and just kind of get me back on my feet so that I didn't end up homeless.”
Jennifer now works at Grace Haven as a house manager, helping other residents as they come in, saying, “When residents come in, I help them. If they're part of Vet Court or if they're not, I just help provide them with resources. It gives me a sense of giving back to the community.”
The fire suppression system is currently being installed, and the rest of the renovations should begin this spring, with the second floor hopefully being opened up later this year. In the meantime, Grace Haven is preparing to offer housing to veteran women from all over the state and their children, reaching out to treatment courts to let them know they are accepting residents. Hoy says, “There is no other homeless shelter providing transitional housing for veteran women in the state of Montana, we're the only one doing that. We just want to treat as many women as we can in the state of Montana.”
For more information on Grace Haven or to donate, click here.
