14 - The Michigan Dail - Weekend etc. - Thursday, March 2, 1995
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SIRLIQQLE
Helping hands are a source for comfort for many women surviving domestic violence, according to Mary Lee Lord, the director of the Women's Resource Center in Traverse City, Mich. One such dilemma faced by the
resource center, which serves a five-county area, is the isolation of women needing their help. Women often find it difficult to seek the help they need because of their remote location and financial obstacles.
Ir
Darwin Cooper spackles the interior
of the new 30,000-square-foot
Domestic Violence Project Inc./Safe
House, that includes such services
as helping the survivors of domestic
violence and their children. The new
building boasts a 63% increase in
housing capacity for the shelter on
7.4 acres. The building, which sits
behind the sheriff's department, will
include the administrative offices of
the project, the crisis hot-line, an
education center, a children's center,
and a non-residential counseling
section, as well as the shelter itself.
The project currently employs 21 staff
members and utilizes the services of
over 350 volunteers. In 1993 the
Domestic Violence Project provided
services for over 18,000 recipients
at other locations. 10,700 received
community education (including
professional training); 7,026 were
recipients of direct counseling
services (5,201 called on the crisis
line); 281 women and 321 children
received shelter at Safe House; 994
received non-residential counseling
service and 529 were reached through
on call teams.
if you are interested in volunteering
hands are needed to paint, pack,
move, haul, and do clerical work for
the new site. If interested please call
the project offices at 973-0242.
Unlike the Washtenaw County Domestic Violence Project, which
received government appropriations to build a new center (the first of
its kind), rural communities are left to raise their own funds to keep
shelters and support services available to survivors who desperately
need it. Money is the primary goal in any fund raising event, as well as
education and publicity. Volunteers from the Women's Resource Center
in Traverse City, Mich. sell raffle tickets in a shopping mall for a free one
year lease on a new car. Other fund-raisers, such as the Extravaganza,
provides profits for the Traverse City charter by charging a flat rate per
ticket. The event then goes on to offer a silent auction,- dinner and
dancing with all proceeds going towards medical services for abused
women or children, housing assistance for a safe place to live, child-
care funds for women seeking employment, and food/maintenance for
Helen's House a safehouse shelter. The resource center continues to
depend on city and state appropriations through social services and
community donations.
There are many legal issues involved in domestic violence. Gov. John
Engler signed a five-bill package on restraining order reform in January
1995. The bills will take effect April 1,1995. Among these changes are:
Referring to restraining orders as "personal protection orders," which
will shift the perspective of infringing on the defendant's rights and
liberty to affirming the victim's right to safety and liberty:
* Beginning April 1, 1996, an abuser purchasing or possessing a
firearm may be prohibited by personal protection orders.
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The Women's Resource Center of Traverse City, Mich.,. uses a thrift shop to raise funds for the domestic
violence shelter and other support services. According to the National Woman Abuse Prevention Project,
children suffer the most where domestic violence is concerned. They are poweriess to control the situation
they are forced to confront, developing physical ailments from emotional stress. Many feel guilty they love
the abuser but cannot stop the situation.
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ThE OLL WIG ARE SOBERING FACTS ON THE
FREQENCYAN MPACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
*ABUSE OF WOMEN INVOLVES THE USE OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, EMOTION'AL AND
VERBAL ABUSE. THE PURPOSE IS TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OVER THE VICTIM.
*BATTERING OCCURS AMONG ALL ECONOMIC, EDUCATIONAL, ETHNIC, RACIAL, AND
RELIGIOUS GROUPS. AN ABUSED WOMAN IS NOT ALONE.
*95% OF ALL ASSAULTS ON SPOUSES ARE COMMITTED BY MEN.
*ACTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OCCUR ONCE EVERY 15 SECONDS.
*IN THE UNITED STATES, 3,000 WOMEN ARE KILLED EACH YEAR BY THEIR HUSBAND,
LOVERS OR BOYFRIENDS - MURDER IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE BATTERER'S
NEED TO CONTROL THE WOMAN'S BEHAVIOR.
*INJURY TO WOMEN DUE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXCEEDS STREET RAPE, MUGGINGS,
AND AUTO ACCIDENTS.
*AT LEAST HALF OF THE CHILDREN OF BATTERED WOMEN ARE PHYSICALLY AND
SEXUALLY ABUSED BY THE MOTHER'S ASSAILANT.
*A WOMEN'S CHANCES OF BEING ASSAULTED AT HOME BY HER PARTNER ARE
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