New domestic violence shelter up and running
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LOCAL IMPACT
Here is a look at the local impact of domestic violence and related crimes from 2014 ____
Bellefontaine Police Department ■ 70 domestic violence charges ■ 9 forcible rapes ■ 27 violent crime assaults ■ 13 protection order violations Consolidated Care Inc. ■ 260 domestic violence and sexual assault survivors supported ____
Logan County Sheriff’s Office
■ 84 domestic violence charges ■ 5 forcible rapes ■ 10 violent crime assaults ■ 28 sexual assaults Logan County Common Pleas Court ■ 237 protection orders compared to 93 in Champaign and 44 in Shelby
Source: Consolidated Care Inc. newsletter |
Logan County’s new domestic violence shelter has been open less than two weeks, but two families have already been able to find a safe harbor there.
Shelter Manager Debbie Brownlee of New Directions of Consolidated Care Inc. reports that the Soteria shelter, which was funded using $416,676 in funds from the Victims of Crime Act and $20,000 from the United Way of Logan County, opened Feb. 29 and immediately took in two families who had been awaiting its opening.
“We are only a week and four days old and we still have some kinks to work out and guidelines to make,” Ms. Brownlee said. “But the most important thing is that both our families are safe, comfortable and making plans for their future. They are hopeful and healing about life again.”
The grant money comes from federal court settlements, fines and fees — not tax dollars — so that fines paid by criminals are used to pay for services for victims, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which provided the grant through a program called Expanding Services and Empowering Victims Initiative.
The location of the shelter and identities of those who are occupying it are kept confidential to protect the users from additional harm. There will be an open house to celebrate the opening of the shelter at 10 a.m. Friday, April 1, at Union Station, 613 Hamilton St.
The shelter is named Soteria for the Greek goddess or spirit of safety and salvation, deliverance and preservation from harm, Ms. Brownlee said.
“We voted and thought this was the perfect name because it’s what the shelter symbolizes,” she said. “It has been a remarkable journey and it seems that everything was meant to be.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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