EUSTIS, Fla. – Marie Bogdonoff looks out over Lake Woodward in Eustis. Her view is framed by the unfinished cinder block of a home under construction.
After years of planning, Ashley’s House is slowly becoming a reality.
“You can see walls and you can see a roof before they put on the second floor,” Bogdonoff said. “On my right-hand side we’ll have two ADA bedrooms with a bath so we can accommodate mobility issues.”
The 4,000-square-foot home is the latest project being built by Villagers For Veterans. Bogdonoff is the nonprofit’s founder. Ashley’s House will be a transition home for women veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
“We are so excited for what this could mean to women veterans,” Bogdonoff said. “We are anxious to give them a hand up and help them get their lives together.”
Bogdonoff started Villagers For Veterans in 2015.
The retired accountant was looking for a way to give back and after a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center, she found her calling.
The nonprofit is dedicated to helping veterans get the tools they need for independent living.
The Villages has attracted one of the highest concentrations of veterans of any community in the nation.
Nearly 20,000 military veterans call The Villages home, and this week’s Getting Results Award winner tells us their donations and support have helped her nonprofit make a difference in the lives of others who are less fortunate.
We last reported on the Villagers for Veteran’s project called Ashley’s Cottage. The remodeled home in Fruitland Park can accommodate up to six formerly homeless women veterans.
“I never knew there were so many homeless veterans because you don’t see them on the streets,” Bogdonoff said. “They move in with friends and family. There’s a term of endearment they use called couch surfers.”
She said women veterans in particular have been in the shadows for a long time.
Although it’s true that, from 2020 to 2023, total homelessness among veterans decreased by 4.5% — from 37,252 to 35,574 — homelessness among women veterans actually increased by nearly 24% — from 3,126 to 3,980 — according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“So we’re welcoming them and giving them a hand up for them to transition and get a job, finish school, do whatever they need to live productive lives,” she said.
While Bogdonoff is not a veteran, she’ll tell you her desire to help the veteran community started when she was invited to a holiday party at Walter Reed Medical Center.
“That’s when I really became aware of the need,” Bogdonoff recalled. “The more I got involved, the more I realized it was up to small nonprofits to help.”
So she applied for 501(c)(3) status and began raising money for all-terrain wheelchairs and other mobility devices to help injured veterans. From there, Bogdonoff began sponsoring service dogs, added the program for women veterans and a Veterans In Need fund to help with bills, rent or other payments.
Kathryn Wilgus, vice president of Villagers For Veterans, is a retired nurse and combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.
Wilgus said she understands how many women find themselves without a home after leaving the service.
“I was homeless when I came out of the Army,” Wilgus said. ”When I came out, I wasn’t close to my family. I didn’t have a place to go back home. And so where do you go?”
Wilgus went to live with friends. She found a job and saved her money. But she said many veterans aren’t as fortunate.
“So I understand the women we’re going to be helping, having gone through that. I’m a success story so I believe it’s time to pay it forward,” Wilgus said.
Bogdonoff was nominated for the News 6 Getting Results award by Sara Kallioinen.
“Her passion and her patience is just overwhelming,” Kallioinen said. “When I saw the Getting Results Award, I said, ‘That’s got Marie’s name written all over it.’”
CEO of Habitat For Humanity Lake-Sumter Danielle Stroud, who partnered with Villagers For Veterans to contract the work on Ashley’s Cottage, agreed that Bogdonoff is an inspiration for a lot of people.
“I love it when I see people choosing to give back and they go into the nonprofit line of work as a second career,” Danielle Stroud said. “She’s a fantastic woman.”
Bogdonoff said construction costs have gone up 36% in the two years since the project started. There’s enough funding to close the house up with windows and doors but not enough to finish the home. “Things that we were not expecting to be as expensive turned out to be very expensive,” Bogdonoff said. “And of course, we couldn’t do any of this without the support of the community.”
“My goal is to see women laughing and having a good time as well as benefiting from the local services and getting to a place where they can understand that they are valued,” Bogdonoff said. “We want success stories.”
Villagers For Veterans will be hosting their 9th Annual Orchid Gala fundraiser Oct. 10, 2024 at the Savannah Center in The Villages. More information can be found on their website.
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