Villages Help Create Memories for Growing Family
Taylor Gothard joined the Navy in search of a new life. She had dealt with generational trauma and the two-year college she was attending after high school was not fulfilling.
She hoped the military would provide her with stability, a new focus and adventure. After interviewing with all the branches, Taylor chose the Navy and enlisted in 2016.
She was stationed in Japan and deployed throughout the area of Japan and Korea. Everything was going well until a traumatic incident required her to be flown out of Japan and to San Diego.
Once there, Taylor was treated for PTSD and depression. She hoped to deploy again, but after six years the Navy said she would be medically retired. Her daughter, Nala, was a toddler, and Nala’s father lived all the way on the East Coast in Virginia. As a single mom, she was fearful of where she would live when she did not have military housing as an option.
She heard about Operation Homefront’s Transitional Housing — Villages program and thought it was too good to be true.
The program provides fully furnished apartments for wounded, ill, and injured service members with families to live rent-free while they go through the process of medically separating from the military.
Taylor applied anyway and was accepted into the San Diego, California, Village in May 2021. Then she got another surprise.
“I got accepted and then found out I was pregnant,” Taylor said. “But I got so much support from (the program). Operation Homefront really helped me a lot.”
Her goals when she entered the program were to save money, increase her credit score, and pay off debt.
“I really wanted to save money for when I did leave the program to help me get where I needed to go.”
In this case, Taylor’s plan was to move across the country to Virginia, closer to Nala’s father.
The program was not just about a place to live, she said, though that was a huge benefit. She “loved” the apartments, she said.
“It provided the stability I needed but it also opened a lot of doors, and opportunities for me. I was able to get on my feet.” – Taylor Gothard, Navy
But the program also gave her access to resources, such as those supporting new moms, she did not know about and possibly would not have found without Operation Homefront.
“I learned about programs that helped with daycare, resources that helped when I was waiting on my disability check, and women’s programs,” Taylor said.
Taylor graduated from the program in January 2023 and is currently renting a townhome in Virginia, just like she planned. Nala’s father is close by.
She is going to school full-time for pre-law studies and would like to continue to her master’s degree and find a job in forensics or homeland security.
Taylor can’t say where she would be now without Operation Homefront and added the donors have affected her life in ways they can’t imagine.
“How do I even put it into words?” she said about the impact. “It provided the stability I needed, but it also opened a lot of doors and opportunities for me. I was able to get on my feet. I learned more, I was supported mentally and physically. I was given a roof over my head. I made lifelong friends. I had the opportunity to create memories for my kids and provide for them. Operation Homefront and the donors did that.”
