A ranch for veterans in Castroville.

In 2006, Amber Vinci, a Marina resident, had five years under her belt with the Air Force, and was waiting to be deployed to the Middle East when a life-altering incident occurred. She says a male colleague sexually assaulted her while she was asleep. She reported the crime to the Air Force, like she’d been taught in military training, but says her bomb squad unit didn’t believe her. She became ostracized from her unit, while the perpetrator went to work as normal.

Vinci’s case is not unique. According to a U.S. Department of Defense report, over 6,000 assaults were reported in 2015. But the real number is likely three to four times higher – as in the civilian world, most sexual assaults aren’t reported.

These statistics inspired Laurabeth Messimer Lopez of Castroville to found G.I. Josie, a startup nonprofit for female veterans. She founded the organization in November 2014, years after her own daughter, Cassandra Lopez, was sexually harassed while serving in the Navy. When Cassandra reported the harassment to a male superior, her complaint was disregarded, she says. “We just want to be listened to,” Cassandra says. “Just to know that someone is on your side – I think that in itself is huge.”

Messimer Lopez was frustrated to learn there was no non-traditional therapy for women like her daughter, and assembled a board, including retired Air Force Lt. Col. Sue Van Steenkiste, and created the nonprofit G.I. Josie. She is now seeking to provide in-residence therapy programs such as equine, yoga, music and dance, for women veterans and their children, at a proposed working ranch in Castroville. She envisions women living and working on the property until they are ready to re-enter the civilian world.

With a long-awaited Veterans Affairs clinic set to open in March 2017, Messimer Lopez expects services will be complementary – for clinical social work and medication, for instance, they’ll seek care at the VA clinic. (Officials will celebrate retiring Congressman Sam Farr’s, D-Carmel, role in bringing the clinic to Marina with a dedication ceremony Oct. 14.) The coming Major General William H. Gourley VA-DOD Outpatient Clinic is expected to serve more than 80,000 patients.

“Having [a VA clinic] right in our backyard is going to be an amazing asset,” Messimer Lopez says. “We’re providing to these women what the VA cannot – non-clinical therapies round-the-clock, not when it’s convenient from 9 to 5, but when they need it at 2 in the morning.”

G.I. Josie will also welcome children of clients as residents, which Messimer Lopez says is an underserved population: “Children are collateral damage as far as the VA is concerned.”

The big hurdle now is buying a property. Lopez is aiming to raise $500,000 to acquire a 5-acre “starter ranch” in Castroville, and eventually $5 million to buy a larger property in Prunedale.

On Oct. 22, G.I. Josie will hold a focus group with 12 female veterans in Aromas, using the same programs that will eventually be offered on the ranch. “We want to get these women together and solicit what they need to heal,” Messimer Lopez says.

Sara Rubin contributed to this report.