Restore Lady Liberty House for female veterans

Set Lady Liberty Free

Mental Illness, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury... these are commonplace among the residents of the Eagle’s Healing Nest, a 120-acre spread in Sauk Centre Minnesota. These residents, all military veterans, call The Nest home while they live together, work together, study together, cry together, laugh together, and yes, most importantly, heal together. For 10 years, this has been a place where Hope meets Healing.

This resident campus can house nearly 90 men, veterans all, who get the help they need here at the Eagle’s Healing Nest, directed and overseen by Melony Butler, the founder. A large variety of resources, strategies, and therapies are available to the residents who move in and stay as long as necessary. Here they overcome the stigma of mental illness and find purpose in their lives apart from the dark road the illness can take them down. The program is widely successful.

Women, too, are served here. Currently, women are housed on the 2nd floor of the Administration Building (The Big House.) But there is only room for 5 women there. Some years ago, the decision was made to renovate one of the 100-year-old buildings on the site and dedicate it to women veterans. Completing a newly prepared building would provide the site with a capacity to house 16 women. Once complete, it is expected the house would remain full.

Construction began in 2020, and by July 2022, it was completed. Plans were being made to alert our women veterans that more space was available.

Unfortunately, a series of complications soon were revealed which delayed the opening of Lady Liberty. Over the next months, repairs were made as monies were made available. Then when systems were turned on for final testing, major leaks were found in the heating system boiler and registers. No heat.

The cost to complete these repairs is $30,000. Over the last 2 years, the Eagle’s Healing Nest has spent all available funds to open this dormitory for the ladies who have served our country with honor, while sacrificing their health in doing so. No monies exist to complete the project – a project so close to completion that it makes your heart ache.

You can help to turn this around – complete repairs – open Lady Liberty, so our women veterans can find a safe environment to heal from the invisible wounds of war.