Spark Spotlight: Veteran Alyce Knaflich of Aura Home Women Vets

There are 86,000 women veterans in the state of North Carolina, which represents 10.8% of the veteran population in the state. National statistics say that 14% of women veterans are homeless, which means there are over 12,000 homeless women veterans in the state of North Carolina. Where are these women? This is the question veteran Alyce Knaflich has been addressing since she started volunteering at women's shelters. Alyce served in the military for almost twenty years as a trained petroleum science technician and a telecommunications operator. Before joining the military, Alyce didn’t really think much about what it would be like. She was told that joining was the only way she could get a degree. “I just really wanted freedom, to be out on my own,” she says. The one thing Alyce did not foresee was her risk of homelessness after leaving the military. After being discharged, Alyce was homeless for a period of time due to PTSD. 

For many veterans, being discharged from the military and reentering civilian life can be a shock for them.“You go from team mentality to being an individual; all your needs were taken care of in the military and now you have to figure out how to get needs met, unsure of what the resources are,” Alyce says. To regain a sense of purpose, Alyce started volunteering in women’s shelters where she discovered that women veterans were not receiving the benefits that all United States Veterans have earned. After bringing the issue to the city and county commissioners, state officials, and federal officials with no success, Alyce pursued legal action with Southern Poverty Law Firm. They started with the department of labor and filed an investigation on an Asheville organization that was not providing female vets with the same federally-funded job training programs as men. The investigation revealed that the claim was true, although necessary changes, unfortunately, did not follow. Though, as long as Alyce is around, women veterans in the area will now receive the help they need and deserve. In 2014, Alyce founded Aura Home Women Vets, a non-profit organization helping women veterans find housing, counseling, and financial guidance throughout Western North Carolina. She is now working as hard as ever to keep this non-profit going. The organization is currently working on renovating a building in Hendersonville to provide women veterans with a home while they are getting back on their feet. Alyce also continues to monitor the community’s homeless. “I keep a close eye on the homeless situation now,” Alyce says. “When women veterans approach me, I make sure they’re fully briefed on what they are eligible for.” Alyce continues to hold policymakers accountable for the rights of female veterans, despite the pushback she has received. “Even though they’ve been trying to squash this, I’m not going away,” she declares.

https://www.aurahomewomenvets.com/
Written by Emily Euchner