SHELTER HOME OF CALDWELL COUNTY, INC. PO BOX 426
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LENOIR, NC 28645
Peaceful Notes N O V E M B E R
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Donations
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Julie Owens
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Julie Owens
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Lisa Clontz
3
DV Vigils
4
Cost of DV
5
New Look
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Shelter Staff
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Angel Tree Project 2014 Every Christmas the Shelter Home staff works to match individual shelter clients and families who have been served in the last year with a community member, church, business or organization to sponsor them. The needs are great this year. Please consider sponsoring a family this season. If you are interested in doing so, please call Breanna McKay at (828) 758-0888 or e-mail her at breanna.mckay@shelterhomecc.org. Visit our website for details http://shelterhomecc.org
Board of Directors Brent Phelps Chair Angie Clark Vice-Chair Ruth Kincaid Secretary Betsy Wilson Treasurer Bob Benfield Jennifer Bowman Heidi Downs Anita Dula Debbie Eller Chris Cole Ann Kelly Morris Reaves Rose Reighard Holly Yongue Nancy Martin Past-Chair Shelter Home Office Phone Numbers: Lenoir (828) 758-0888 Taylorsville (828) 635-8055 Crisis Lines: Lenoir (828) 758-7088 Taylorsville (828) 635-8851 24 hours a day
Second Bloom Boutique opened Monday November 10, 2014 At
101 Willow Street Lenoir, NC 828-572-0802 second.bloom@shelterhomecc.org Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The purpose of Second Bloom Boutique is solely to support the Mission of the Shelter Home and its service to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in our area. We are accepting donations of gently used ladies clothing and accessories. All proceeds from Second Bloom support Shelter Home operations and programs. Please send questions to second.bloom@shelterhomecc.org We continue to need clothing for ladies and children of all ages for sheltered clients. We are in need of gently used furniture, household appliances, and household supplies for residents who are moving into homes after their Shelter stay. Please contact breanna.mckay@shelterhomecc.org if you have questions.
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Blue Ridge Electric Donates a TRUCK! In July, Blue Ridge Electric donated a truck to the Shelter Home. The truck has already been used countless times in helping clients move out of the Shelter and into more permanent housing, in transporting incoming and outgoing donations, and getting our Boutique ready for it’s Grand Opening. We are so grateful to Blue Ridge for this extremely generous gift. Pictured is Nancy Martin, Shelter Home Board Member, accepting a grant from the Unifour Community Foundation by John Francis in support of the “Second Bloom Boutique.”
Congratulations and Thank You to Robert Hull, winner of the Parties With a Purpose Cupcake Challenge. Robert donated all of the leftover cupcakes to the Shelter Home!
Welcome Julie Owens to the Shelter Home of Caldwell County! Julie is one of two advocates hired recently for a Special Project funded through the Governor’s Crime Commission for the next two years at the Shelter Home working with domestic violence victims who are from specific populations. Some of Julie’s goals in her new position entail establishing partnerships with Caldwell and Alexander County partner agencies, developing a multi-disciplinary task force, creating new policies and protocols, and training staff members and community partners. Julie Owens is a survivor of domestic violence. In 1988, during a post-separation attack by her estranged husband, she was kidnapped, beaten, stabbed and forced to watch the attempted murder of her father, a prominent pastor. When Julie and her father received no help or advocacy while hospitalized she decided to leave the field of special education to devote her efforts exclusively to domestic violence advocacy. While recovering from her wounds, raising her infant son and cooperating with the criminal investigation, Julie worked fulltime until her teaching contract ended and she was forced to apply for public assistance. She returned to college where her studies focused on domestic violence. That same year, Julie co-authored a grant proposal to the state legislature and her vision of developing a community-based on-call hospital crisis team for battered women soon became a reality. Julie hired and trained the on-call crisis counselors and developed a comprehensive training manual and curriculum for health care professionals. Since that time, Julie has provided hundreds of trainings across the nation for professionals in the health and helping fields. With grants from the American College of Emergency Physicians, she worked with physicians to provide multiple educational forums for doctors in all Hawaii hospitals as well as the University of Hawaii School of Medicine. She later trained the staffs in every state family planning clinic as well. She has since served as a frequent guest lecturer addressing professionals in the health, mental health, criminal justice and counseling fields on a wide variety of topics relating to domestic violence. She has traveled across the US and to other nations to provide training and consultation and is often called upon to participate in media events. Additionally, Julie’s work has involved many years of facilitating support groups for victims, authoring journal articles and lobbying for state and federal laws related to crimes and violence against women. She has assisted in the establishment of various community projects such as annual memorial domestic violence vigils, a coalition of religious groups responding to domestic violence, an activist organization for formerly battered women and routine memorial marches after domestic violence murders. Over the years, Julie has worked extensively in faith-based organizations and co-founded with her father a free transitional shelter for battered women and their children. As the manager of this and one other faith-based shelter, Julie worked closely with many families to assist their transitions into a new violence-free life. Because of these shelters’ unique approach to victim support (with attention to physical, psychological and also spiritual healing), Julie’s personal story was featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary, Broken Vows: Religious Perspectives on Domestic Violence and in Wings Like A Dove, video resources created for Christian battered women. She and her father are also featured in the television documentary series, When Love Hurts. Julie is a member of the National Training Team for the FaithTrust Institute in Seattle WA and was one of the four PEACEFUL
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Proud to be sponsored by the Caldwell County and Alexander County United Way
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North American site coordinators for the web-based Lilly Endowment funded “RAVE project”- Religion And Violence E-learning www.theraveproject.com. Among her publications are chapters in three books on domestic violence written for church leaders. For many years Julie provided 3-day Domestic Violence Counselor certification training programs and 2-Day Advanced Mental Health Issues trainings for those working with victims of domestic and sexual assault. From 1995-2001 she served on a statewide team she helped create (via the National Women’s Resource Center) to provide conferences and cross-trainings for domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse and mental health counselors. In the early 1990’s Julie became extensively involved in psychological research focusing on domestic-violence related trauma. She was Project Director of the Trauma Survivors Project at the National Center for PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) where she and her colleagues developed trauma assessment instruments and examined the relationship of trauma-related guilt to depression and PTSD severity among survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse. She conducted research in Ob/Gyn settings, screening and interviewing patients for previous traumas and domestic violence. Julie was also Project Director, co-investigator and trauma therapist for another 3-year study, the Violence Against Women Trauma Therapy Initiative, which offered the first controlled clinical trial of a PTSD trauma therapy for formerly battered women. In addition, Julie worked on research at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu that utilized PET scan technology to study the biological mechanism of PTSD in the brains of domestic violence survivors. Julie relocated to North Carolina in 2001 to serve as Domestic Violence Coordinator for the Area Mental Health Authority of Mecklenburg County. She provided training and consultation for various professionals there before doing extensive work with addicted pregnant women and mothers. Later, as Regional Director for the NC Council for Women for 8 ½ years, she oversaw and provided support to the domestic violence, sexual assault and displaced homemaker programs in a 20-county area. Julie is frequently called upon to speak and train nationally and internationally on issues related to violence against woman and trauma nationally and internationally. Along with educational efforts such as these, Julie also serves as an expert witness for domestic violence victims in court. In 2012 she provided two weeks of training for the Republic of Kosovo as a consultant for the U.S. Department of State. In 2013 she was invited to become an Expert Consultant for the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, Training and Technical Assistance Center. For more details and links to her work please see Julie’s website www.domesticviolenceexpert.org
Welcome Lisa Clontz to the Shelter Home of Caldwell County! Lisa is the second member of the Special Project team hired for work on the pilot project through Governor’s Crime Commission. Lisa is a native of Caldwell County, having grown up in the Gamewell Community. She attended West Caldwell High School, completed her Associates Degree in Criminal Justice at Western Piedmont Community College, and pursued her BS from Gardner Webb University. Lisa worked with Lenoir Police Department for 10 years prior to spending 20 years in retail asset protection and management. Lisa has been involved in supporting the Shelter Home in recent years through her work with the Gamewell Optimist. The Gamewell Optimist Softball players have held fundraisers for the Shelter Home the last two years. The “Wake-a-thon” has been a youth athlete sponsored event for the last two years raising funds for the Shelter Home. The “Safe@Home” adult softball tournament was a joint fundraiser between Whitnel and Gamewell Optimist to support the Shelter Home. THE SHELTER HOME NEWSLETTER IS CHANGING IN 2015 We will continue to publish a printed newsletter in 2015. However, it will undergo some changes. We believe that our newsletter is an important communication piece with the community members, churches, funders, advocates and supporters that believe in the mission of the Shelter Home of Caldwell County. The cost to produce and mail the newsletters is a consideration we had to review, and will be making the following changes and asking for YOUR help as we travel this new path. Peaceful Notes will be a little less colorful in 2015 to save ink. The full color version will continue to be available on the Shelter Home website each quarter for "full effect.” Once a year, the first quarter edition of Peaceful Notes in March will share our deep appreciation to donors for their contributions by listing names, Honorariums and gifts given In Memory. This process will reduce production costs for our mission. YOU CAN HELP! Please consider sending your email address to us to be added to our email edition of the Newsletter through iContact. If you join our electronic newsletter group, you will also be included in our Events notifications and our "Significant Needs" requests when those occur. Email breanna.mckay@shelterhomecc.org Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate you and your support of the work that we do as we serve our neighbors in need.
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OCTOBER WAS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH Domestic Violence has been at the forefront of news media discussions for the past month. With the video release of NFL’s Ray Rice assault of his then fiancée, Panther Greg Hardy’s conviction for domestic violence assault of his girlfriend, and last week’s arrest of Charlotte Hornet player, Jeff Taylor, as a nation we are “Talking About It.” During DV Awareness Month each year across the state and across our nation, groups recognized those victims who lost their lives due to domestic violence. As a community we Mourn the loss of life, Connect to one another for support and change, and Celebrate the survivors who have left violent and abusive relationship, and are making new and healthy futures for themselves and their children. They said NO MORE!
Caldwell County DV Vigil: Took Place: Tuesday October 14, 2014 at Hudson First Baptist Church
Alexander County DV Vigil: Took place: Thursday October 16, 2014 at First Baptist Church of Taylorsville, NC At the time of the DV Vigil, North Carolina had experienced 56 domestic violence homicides since January 1, 2014. Five were children under the age of 18. All senseless loss of precious lives due to Violence. NO MORE!
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The Cost of Domestic Violence NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence Comprehensive Homicide Report 2002-2010 698 Lives Lost Report Overview: In a report released by the Violence Policy Center in 2010, North Carolina was ranked the 4th highest state for homicides perpetrated by one male perpetrator against one female victim in 2008. This ranking signifies the prevalence and scope of domestic violence homicide in NC. Their report is designed to highlight the dynamics of domestic violence homicide and provide information to the general public, policy makers, and allied professionals supporting the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s (NCCADV) work to end domestic violence. Most importantly, this report is created to honor all of the lives lost to domestic violence in our state so that we can increase awareness of this epidemic. Age and Sex of Victims: In North Carolina, according to NCCADV data, most victims of domestic violence homicide are women, and most perpetrators are male. This is consistent with national data. Women who are much younger or older than their intimate partner may be at greater risk of being killed by their current or former intimate partner. The average age of victims in North Carolina increased slightly over the years, from 33 years old in 2002 to 40 years old in 2010. Child Victims: Based on NCCADV data collected from 2002-2010, there were also 44 victims under the age of 18 years. Twentynine children were murdered by their stepfather or their mother’s boyfriend. Six victims under 18 were teenagers killed by a current or former boyfriend or girlfriend. The Economic Impact of Domestic Violence Affects Individuals, Families, Businesses, and Society The total health care costs of domestic violence are about $4.1 billion each year. Victims of abuse have more absences from work than the general population, often due to injuries, embarrassment due to visible cuts or bruises, or because the abusive partner interferes with her ability to get to work. It is estimated that up to 74% of abused women who are employed experience harassment by the batterer at work or interference with her ability to do her work. Loss of wages due to domestic violence leads to financial instability and makes it difficult to maintain steady housing or provide for children. A survey of 27 cities, including Charlotte and Gastonia, identified domestic violence as one of the top three causes of homelessness. 50-60% of women receiving public assistance have been victims of domestic violence, compared to 22% of the general population. Women in the U.S. lose about 8 million paid days of work (the equivalent of 32,144 full-time jobs) each year due to domestic violence. The cost of productivity lost from employment due to domestic violence is $727 million each year.
Domestic Violence in North Carolina 1 in 5 North Carolina women experience physical abuse. North Carolina has the 8th largest American Indian population in the U.S, and American Indian women are disproportionally affected by domestic violence, 11.1 per 1000 compared to 4.0 per 1000 in white women. According to the North Carolina Council for Women, during 2009-2010: Crisis lines across North Carolina received 120,666 calls. Local shelters served 6,047 children (0-17 years) and 7,466 adults. An additional 1,721 victims were referred to other shelters due to lack of space. Shelters in 26 counties were filled to capacity more than 100 days that year.
Shelter Home Staff The Shelter Home provides crisis services 24/7 and is able to do this because of a fine staff which is dedicated to making the Shelter Home a place of “Hope, Help and Healing.”
Sharon Poarch, Executive Director .................................................................... .director@shelterhomecc.org Stephanie Lee, Business Manager ...................................................................... .businessmanager@shelterhomecc.org Lily Moody, Program Director .......................................................................... .lily.moody@shelterhomecc.org Tina Gilbert, Thrift Store Manager……………………………..…….. …………...tina.gilbert@shelterhomecc.org Anita Hicks, Victim Advocate - Rape and Sexual Assault……..………………….anita.hicks@shelterhomecc.org Kim Watson, Court Advocate ........................................................................... .kim.watson@shelterhomecc.org Breanna McKay, Community Outreach Coordinator ......................................... .breanna.mckay@shelterhomecc.org Delana McCroskey, Child Advocate………………………………………………..delana.mccroskey@shelterhomecc.org Julie Owens, Victim Advocate - Special Populations………………………………julie.owens@shelterhomecc.org Lisa Clontz, Victim Advocate - Special Populations……………………………….lisa.clontz@shelterhomecc.org Brooke Delk, Victim Advocate - Housing and Employment Coordinator………..brooke.delk@shelterhomecc.org Patty Burke ,Victim Advocate, Alexander County…………………………………pattyburke@shelterhomecc.org Dawn Chumley, Court Advocate, Alexander County………………………….....dawnchumley@shelterhomecc.org Shelter Managers: Marley Lee…………………………………………………………………………….marley.lee@shelterhomecc.org Joyce Price…………………………………………………………………………….joyce.price@shelterhomecc.org Tammy Watts…………………………………………………………………………tammy.watts@shelterhomecc.org Hannah Downs……………………………………………………………………….hannah.downs@shelterhomecc.org Kim Wyckoff………………………………………………………………………….kim.wyckoff@shelterhomecc.org Michelle Clark………………………………………………………………………...michelle.clark@shelterhomecc.org Anquinett Burnett…………………………………………………………………….anquinett.burnett@shelterhomecc.org
We’re going GREEN- Please request your newsletter be sent by email. Send requests to breanna.mckay@shelterhomecc.org or simply call (828) 758-0888 and ask for Breanna McKay. Get a Volunteer Application and get involved with us! Thank you!
Return Service Requested PO Box 426 Lenoir, NC 28645