Interview with Gracie Broll
Photography by Operation Homefront

Per its mission statement, Operation Homefront is a nonprofit dedicated to building “strong, stable, and secure military families so they can thrive, not simply struggle to get by, in the communities that they’ve worked so hard to protect.”

Gracie Broll, the organization’s vice president of transitional and permanent housing, discusses the various ways it helps veterans successfully transition to civilian life.

How did you get involved with Operation Homefront?

Around fifteen years ago, I was a stay-at-home, divorced mom just starting my own corporate housing company when my sister Amy moved in with me. At that time, Operation Homefront was run out of a two-bedroom house across from Randolph Air Force Base. She interviewed there and was hired as the CEO’s personal assistant.

One day, Amy told me she received a call from a veteran with a family of six who hadn’t received VA benefits in eighteen months and wondered if I could help with their housing situation. Somehow, we pulled it off, and the organization’s housing efforts continued to grow from there.

Like most people, I was initially naive about the wounded veteran population and didn’t really understand what military families go through. But then I saw the devastation of wounded soldiers firsthand, which touched my heart. Amy kept pushing me to work there, but I insisted that I was following my own dream. However, as those families’ applications kept pouring in, I couldn’t just abandon them. It became my passion to help and serve them, and I’ve been doing so with Operation Homefront ever since.

What are some of the biggest issues you help veterans face?

We have over 200,000 veterans returning to civilian life each year. The challenges we dealt with twenty years ago are the same today: transitioning to a completely different life.

We also work with them on healing. Whereas before we’d see a lot of amputees, burns, and other physical injuries, we’re now dealing with more diseases, mental health issues, traumatic brain injuries, and PTSD. So we have to constantly change the way we think and operate for the veterans we serve.

Tell us more about your primary assistance programs: Relief, Resiliency, and Recurring Family Support:

In our Relief program, we have our transitional-housing villages in San Antonio, San Diego, and Gaithersburg, Maryland, for wounded and ill veterans. They live in fully furnished apartments so their families can stay with them while they heal and transition from the military world to the civilian world.

This program also includes our Critical Financial Assistance program, which is emergency relief for military families in need, along with one of our newer housing programs, started in 2018: Transitional Homes for Veterans. In that program, we use donor funds to purchase homes in communities where military families can thrive. They remain in the home for two to three years rent-free, and then they graduate. Along the way, we make sure they put money aside for savings so they can buy a home of their own in the community they’re in.

For our Resiliency program, we secure permanent homes for veterans, primarily from bank foreclosures and new home builds. The veteran will stay in the home for two years, and when they complete the program, they get the home deed-free. That home is theirs, 100 percent.

When we accept veterans into this program, a lot of them already have a job or family in the area; still, we want to make sure they still have what they need. So before we match them with a home, we review prime rates in the area, the school district, what VA hospitals and other resources are close, and employment and educational opportunities. Then, to help ensure the veteran can maintain the home once it’s deeded to them, we teach them all about homeownership. We have given out more than 675 permanent homes to date with over $100 million in equity.

Finally, through our Recurring Family Support program, we hold family-related events. We provide backpacks full of school supplies to military kids on bases, supply holiday meals for families, bring together military spouses to celebrate and share the challenges they go through, and honor military children from each branch. We even do baby showers for expecting moms in the military.

No matter the program veterans enter, we want them to get the stability they deserve after military life.

Do you have any new programs on the horizon?

Our newest housing program is Transition Housing (Apartments), which we offer to any service member, single or with a family, who is within four years of discharge. Maybe they got out and thought they’d be OK but weren’t or realized they couldn’t afford a home because of higher prices. It’s a sort of step-up program: they live in an apartment for a year, and we help them pause, get on track, and move on.

How vital is making connections for military members to your mission?

We are working with them through what’s probably the most difficult time of their lives. Transition is hard. In the military, you’re told when to wake up, what to do, and where and when to report. A lot of times, a veteran’s discharge comes unexpectedly. Their kids may be in school and their spouse may be employed, and suddenly they must move. And they might have suffered injuries or have mental health struggles on top of that. We understand all those challenges: we’ve seen them all and have learned what to do and not do, and we have built connections to make the transition—and if we can’t help them, we connect them with people who can.

Two great organizations that we partner with on this transition are Hire Heroes USA, which works with veterans on skills like resume writing and how to dress for an interview and then matches them with jobs, and Clearpoint Financial, who we pay to work one on one with each family on finances. Each military family is different—the size, income, the benefits they’re eligible for, etc.—so we offer each one a path specific to them.

Is such individualized attention paramount to your success with veterans?

Very much so. We even have a section on our website where people can read about individual veterans’ needs and donate to help them. Another example is that through our Critical Financial Assistance program, they have a social worker who’s going to talk to them and monitor their progress from start to finish.

What are some surprising needs of veterans and their families?

Tool kits. A lot of veterans have lived on a base for years and haven’t had to fix things in their homes, so they often don’t have the proper tools at home. To meet this need, we’re giving out tool kits starting this year. We’re also looking into helping with lawn mowers and generators.

What’s the best part of your job?

I love handing over the big key when a family gets a home. But my favorite part of my job is before a family graduates, when our graduation committee puts two columns on a screen: the family’s savings, credit score, and debt now versus when they moved in. It’s incredible to see what they’ve been able to accomplish.

In one word, what does Operation Homefront offer to veterans?

Trust. The programs are great, but building the veterans’ trust in them can be challenging. They tend to be leery of what the catch is. But there isn’t one. We’re simply here to help them transition successfully. Watching that trust build over time is amazing. I can’t tell you how many veterans or their spouses would come into the office and cry because they were so lost and confused. To see them at their weakest and then see them build themselves up from there is so fulfilling.

For more info, visit operationhomefront.org