Honor Home for women veterans opens in Stark County
CANTON, Ohio (WJW) — It was an exceptionally long ribbon to cut for what is a unique place — the first of its kind in Ohio.
The Honor Home in Stark County is a place where homeless women veterans and their children can find a safe place to stay.
'We all need a soft place to land. It is beautiful that we have a home for homeless veterans, but it's horrible that we need one,' said Ohio Women Veterans Committee Chair Dana Robinson-Street.
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Female veterans have different medical, emotional and personal needs than their male counterparts.
One of the leading reasons many male veterans are homeless is substance abuse. The leading reason many female veterans are homeless is domestic violence.
It took three years of planning and a whole community of people to make it happen, and on Thursday, June 12, Women Veterans Day, that safe space opened.
The space will be more than just a place to stay.
'We're wrapping our resources around them, whether it's connecting them with compensation, pension discharge upgrades, [Veterans Affairs] health care. Every veteran who comes through here is going to get VA health care. … So we can address all of those barriers they're dealing with and help set them up for success,' Stark County Veterans Services Commission Director De Ann Williams said.
The Honor Home for women veterans is actually two homes. The first is for women with children. The rooms feature bunk beds and there is a big playground out back. The second home is for single female veterans.
Both homes are places were they can live for a while until they're able to get back on their feet and overcome the barriers in front of them.
'A place where they're able to sit back and just take a time out and work with people who are there to support them and work on 'How do I move forward?' Williams said.
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The first women will be welcomed to the house this week.
Williams said there are plans to expand the services not only here but at the Honor Home for men, which will add more bed space by next spring.
She said the veterans who are housed there will be given every opportunity to move forward with their lives, with services that they need. And because they answered the call of their country, these are services that are very much earned.
The women's Honor Home still needs the community's help. They need donations to help them purchase furniture items like dressers, food for their pantry, toiletries and clothes for the women and children.
Click here to donate.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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