Family Violence Center keeps women, children safe

“We provide shelter to women and children who are victims of domestic violence,” said Pat Reiser, president and CEO of Family Violence Center, which was founded in 1976. “We provide case management as well, all sorts of groups to give these women the self confidence so that they don’t have to rely on an abuser for their mere existence.”

That the center is able to provide services worth more than its budget is a testament to community support from individuals and other community organizations.

“We provide everything for the women when they come in – clothing, shoes, hair care products, toothpaste … everything they need, while they’re here,” Reiser said, noting that the center gets most of those items through donations.

“Greene County has the highest incidence of domestic violence per capita for any county in the state,” Reiser said.

In 2005, she noted, local law enforcement responded to more than 5,000 domestic disturbance calls. The center’s own hotline, (417) 864-SAFE, answered 1,484 calls.

The shelter’s capacity is 100, and Reiser said it is full most of the time. In 2005, Family Violence Center served 725 people, providing 22,014 safe bed nights for the year, at a per-person cost of $57 a day. The shelter address, Reiser said, isn’t published for security reasons. For the same year, the center, which has 25 paid staff members and numerous volunteers, provided 38,154 meals.

“Without the volunteers and the in-kind donations from the community, we would definitely not be able to make it,” Reiser said.

Just giving women and children a safe place to stay isn’t enough; after a woman flees an abuser, Reiser said, she is 75 percent more likely to be killed during the first two months on her own.

“If she has children, she has to think of them,” Reiser said, noting that food, clothing, shelter and transportation often are obstacles. “Those are the things that keep her there – the fear of what's going to happen when she walks out the door.”

Women and children can stay in the shelter for 90 days, during which time center staff and volunteers encourage independence through education and counseling services. If children accompany their mothers to the shelter, they have the option to attend a local school or to home-school with tutors, if safety is a concern. For younger children, the center has child-care and preschool assistance.

Sometimes, women who seek help from the center are able to rebuild their lives in the Ozarks. Once 90 days at the shelter has passed, Family Violence Center has eight transitional apartments where women and children can apply to stay rent-free for up to six months, during which time they must have a source of income and can continue working with a case manager. Other times, Reiser said, “We get them completely out of here. We have transported women across the country, and we’ve had women here from every state in the union, and outside our borders as well.”

Reiser said staff and volunteers also spend time educating members of the community. In 2005, Family Violence Center provided community presentations for nearly 9,000 people.

“(Domestic violence) costs society a tremendous amount. If we could reduce the amount of domestic violence, that should be our goal, so that we can take some of this financial burden off of society,” Reiser said.

Family Violence Center

Address: PO Box 5972, Springfield, MO 65801

Phone: (417) 837-7707

Web site: familyviolencecenter.org

2005 budget: $860,000

2005 value of services provided: $1.2 million[[In-content Ad]]