Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Lyneé Jackson needed a physically and emotionally safe space to move into with her two boys when she was medically retired from the military in 2019 after serving for nearly 16 years.
She was concerned that the only place she could go would be back to an abusive marriage. But then a colleague told her to look into Operation Homefront’s Transitional Housing-Villages (Village) program. She was accepted into the California Village in San Diego and in May 2019, moved into a fully furnished, rent-free apartment.
“I did not have any expectations,” Lyneé said. “I just knew that it was an opportunity for me to safely leave the situation I was in. This (Village) program is absolutely amazing. It really removed a lot of the stress of the situation that I was in with so many transitions at once. It gave me an opportunity to process it appropriately and safely without financial strain which is often times the biggest obstacle for people in my situation and people transitioning out of the military in general.”
At the Village, Lyneé got financial counseling, help budgeting for the future and the security and stability they needed to work on her treatment. She also received help navigating the complicated transition process from the military to civilian life. Because of the support she received at the village, Lyneé said, “I was not just another person dealing with trauma, grasping at the wind.”
Lyneé and her sons, Xavier, 11, and Gabriel, 9, recently graduated the program and moved out of the Village into their own apartment. She was able to pay off her car and other debts, was able to provide the first and last month’s rent at a new place, plus deposit $4,000 into her savings.
“First and foremost, I want to say thank you to all the people at Operation Homefront’s Village,” Lyneé said. “ I want donors to know that their donation really helps the service member. It helped my family find a home and that is more than a lot of service members in my predicament could ever hope for.”
