Women Veterans

All donations will directly benefit our homeless women veterans and their children!

HENDERSON HOUSE

The YWCA's Transitional Living Center for
Homeless Women Veterans and their Dependent Children

Click here to read a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama about Henderson House's Dedication!

Click here to watch our short video about the program!

BACKGROUND:

The YWCA Middle Rio Grande has been serving the state of New Mexico since 1910. Currently, we serve over 175,000 women and their families. Historically, the YWCA Middle Rio Grande has taken an active role in serving veterans and their families. During World War II for example, we committed our 77-acre camp in Tijeras New Mexico (just 15 minutes east of Albuquerque) to serve as a place of respite for soldiers and their families and actively supported the wives of serviceman by providing job training and childcare.

Presently, we have opened “Henderson House,” a supportive transitional living facility for homeless women veterans and their dependent children. The project is the first of its kind in the nation and has been recognized as a model for the country by First Lady Michelle Obama and supported as a signature program not only by New Mexico's Congressional Delegation but by the US Senate and House of Representatives. It is hoped that it will serve as a pilot for other programs not only in our state, but the country at large, until the problem of homelessness among women veterans is eliminated.

THE NEED:

There are over 16,000 women veterans in New Mexico and that number is increasing. Currently, women make up 14% of the nation's Active Duty Force, 18% of National Guard and 15% of Reserve forces. 20% of new recruits are women and 11% are also single parents - compared to 4% of military men. While the numbers of women in the military are on the increase, so are the challenges that face them when they return to the States.

While the transition from military to civilian life is a difficult adjustment for both male and female veterans, it is especially difficult for women.

Studies of women veterans consistently show that even if shelter beds are available, many do not want to be housed in the same facility as their male counterparts. This is undoubtedly due, in part, to the fact that over 75% of these women are suffering from conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma. Female veterans face a higher unemployment rate than male veterans, are 2 times as likely to become homeless than male veterans, and comprise 7% of the nation’s homeless veteran population. Moreover, the fastest growing segment of the homeless veteran population is women with children.

For many, having a safe, gender-specific facility where their children can also live is essential to their recovery.

OUR GOAL:

At Henderson House, the YWCA provides intensive one-on-one case management to foster educational development, computer literacy, job training, financial management, parenting and childcare classes, holistic healthcare, and stress management for our residents. A local philanthropist and Vietnam Vet, Don McLeod, donated a single story 5-bedroom/3-bathroom house with approximately 3,200 square feet to us for use as a transitional living facility. We then applied for, and received, a capital grant from the Federal Department of Veteran's Affairs to cover the costs of construction and renovation so that the house could meet the Life Safety Code and be ADA compliant. The program can house a maximum of 10 women veteran residents, and it is anticipated that some of these women will have dependent children.

The ultimate goal is for each woman in the Henderson House program to be able to leave transitional supportive housing and move into permanent housing for herself and her children with the job and life skills necessary to maintain an independent household. The program is designed so that 80% of the women in the program will successfully transition to independent living within one year's time (but may stay up to two years depending on individual circumstances) and that other women will then take their place.

Our 24/7 case management team assists each veteran in developing their own independent development plan that establishes short and long-term goals and strategies for obtaining employment and increasing self-sufficiency.

For each resident, plans are tailored to meet each woman's individual goals as well as customized in accordance with demonstrated abilities therefore community partners are accessed on an as-needed basis, but we have formal Memorandums of Understandings with the following primary community partners, which is another unique feature of the program: the VA and VA Women's Health Clinic, NM Veteran Integration Center, Women Veterans of NM, NM Job Corps, the University of New Mexico, the Roadrunner Food Bank, Goodwill Industries, Albuquerque Public Schools, the YMCA of Central NM, the NM Department of Veteran Services, the NM Department of Workforce Solutions, the Central New Mexico Community College Workforce Training Center, and others.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!

The project needs significant amounts of ongoing support!

You can help us help those women and moms who served our country!

Checks can be made payable to the YWCA Middle Rio Grande, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and mailed to our office at 210 Truman St. NE, Ste. A, Albuquerque, NM 87108. You can also contribute with a credit card securely online - just click here. If you are interested in hosting a fundraiser for Henderson House, please contact Andrea Nash at 505-254-9922 x 115 or anash@ywca-nm.org.

OUR WISH LIST : (current as of 05/17/12)

* Monetary Contributions! (see above)

* Walmart or Target gift cards

* Gas cards for our van which transports our veterans

* Offsite storage unit for larger items

* Soccer Ball

* Women's Bike Helmet

* Plastic, enclosed recycling bins

* Zoo, Aquarium, BioPark passes

* Movie passes

* Museum passes

PLEASE NOTE: Donations should NOT be directly dropped off at Henderson House, but can instead be dropped off at the YWCA's main office at 210 Truman St. NE, Ste. A (on the northwest corner of Copper and San Mateo). Also, due to space limitations we can no longer take direct donations of clothing. Clothing for the program may be dropped off for the program through our partnership with the Assistance League Bargain Box Thrift Store (Lomas/San Mateo). Please designate your donation for the YWCA’s “Our Sisters Closet” Program. Through this program, we issue vouchers to the veterans in our program so that they can “shop” for clothes for free.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR MAJOR BENEFACTORS:

Don & Connie McLeod
Mark & Linda Henderson
Albertson's
Congressman Martin Heinrich
Daniels Fund
Home Depot Foundation
J.B. Henderson Construction Company
Lowes Foundation
McCune Charitable Foundation
New Mexico Community Foundation
New Mexico Department of Veteran Services
New Mexico Veterans Administration
New Mexico Veterans Integration Center
Rebuilding Together Albuquerque
Senator Jeff Bingaman
Senator Tom Udall
Walmart Foundation
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
USAA Federal Savings Bank

ABBA Technologies
Albuquerque Equipment and Roofing
Albuquerque Pipe and Pump
American Homecoming Foundation
American Legion Auxiliary
American Subcontractors Association of New Mexico
Andrea Henderson
Anesthesia Associates of New Mexico, PA
Assistance League of Albuquerque
Bank of the West
Betty Johnson
Blue Star Mothers
Bradbury Stamm
Brothers Electro Mechanical
Business Environments
Cheryl & Dayton King
Chris Hoover, Kay & Valerie Main
CITI
Con Alma Health Foundation
Consolidated Electrical Distribution
Cracker Barrel Foundation
Criterion Brock
Del Norte Rotary Foundation
Denise Sandoval
Dorothy Prior Estate
Doug Keaty
Dwight Davis
Encore Club
Enterprise Holdings Foundation
Gregory Romney
Havona Environmental
HEI
James Chapman
Jardineros de Placitas
Jill Burtram
Jim & Ellen King
John Plinio
Knights of Columbus Council
Linda & Tom Lyle
Lori Pettit
Mama's Minerals
Martha & David Lilley
Mary Garcia Ingram
Michael Sanchez
MicroPure H2O Systems
Military Order of the Purple Heart
Natasha Ning
New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness
Paton Family Charitable Foundation
Patricia Sloan
Quota International of Albuquerque
Realtimesites
Rio Grande Rotary Club
Route 66 Civitan Club
Samon's
Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia Presbyterian Church - Women of the Church
Sharon Payne
Sheryl & Paul Inglat
Sonia Lopez
Soul Candy Studio - Michelle King
Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters
Tempur Pedic Productions
Thomas Parry
Veterans Procurement Assistance Center
Victoria's Secret Direct
Vidya Cicchini
Women Marine Association Sandia New Mexico
Women Veterans of New Mexico
AND MANY MANY OTHER GENEROUS INDIVIDUALS IN OUR COMMUNITY!

Women Veterans

contact us.