TRAPP, Ky. (AP) - A former elementary school in Kentucky is being transformed into a home for homeless female veterans and their children.
Work on the former Clark County Trapp Elementary School began late last year, and it has a while to go before it’s complete, the Lexington Herald-Leader (https://bit.ly/2s6xJv7) reported.
The building contains eight bedrooms that can accommodate as many as 35 people. Rooms can be arranged to accommodate a mother with kids or single veterans sharing a room.
The transformation is being done by Lady Veterans Connect.
Wanda Martin, a volunteer with the group, said numerous men in her family have served in the military, including her son. But she’s concerned about the fate of female veterans.
“You don’t see the females, but they are there. And the sad part is, often they are there with children,” she said.
According to a 2010 Project Muse study, women veterans are three to four times more likely to be homeless than their civilian counterparts.
The new home is in the small Clark County community of Trapp, about 10 miles southeast of Winchester. Each bedroom has a television, beds and filing cabinets for storage.
There’s also an on-site clothing store, stocked through donations, and a room where veterans can buy toiletries or get a book to read.
Eventually, the building will have computer training and job interviewing classes, said Phyllis Abbott, a co-founder of Lady Veterans Connect and one of the volunteers behind the project.
A garden is planned, and produce from it will help women veterans who wish to get a food handling license. There also will be a playroom and an on-site beauty salon.
Much of the furniture and clothes have been donated.
Before it can open, the building needs a new furnace, and showers need to be installed, among other things. Once the renovation is finished, the home can begin hosting women veterans within 90 days, Abbott said.
The organization is hosting a golf scramble June 3 at South Wind Golf Course in Winchester to raise money.
This is not the first Kentucky home exclusively for female veterans. Abbott also renovated a home for female veterans in Lexington. It opened last July.
Toni Czajkowski, another volunteer, served in the U.S. Navy but didn’t see conflict. A disabled veteran, Czajkowski said she’s benefiting from working on the home, just by knowing she’s helping other female veterans.
“It’s healing me,” she said.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, https://www.kentucky.com
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