A project more than a decade in the making could finally come to
fruition in the next few months thanks to lots of persistence and a
little help from the state.
Hollister – A project more than a decade in the making could finally come to fruition in the next few months thanks to lots of persistence and a little help from the state.
Organizers of Emmaus House, a battered women’s shelter which volunteers have spent countless hours and thousands of dollars preparing since the project’s inception in 1995, hope to open the county’s sole shelter for distressed women and their families in early 2006.
While the million-dollar facility has been built and furnished for months and volunteers have put on a multitude of fundraisers over the years trying to raise enough money to open the shelter’s doors, organizers lacked the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to operate the shelter for the first year.
After applying for a Community Development Black Grant by partnering with San Benito County’s Community Services and Workforce Development, the organization finally received a grant of $435,000 to help pay operating expenses over the next three years, according to Board Chair Nants Foley.
Foley said the i’s are being dotted and the t’s are being crossed, and the shelter should have the money in the bank soon – allowing for a grand opening sometime in the next couple months.
“We had the house all ready to go, but we didn’t have operating expenses,” Foley said. “Because the house has to be staffed 24 hours a day by several people that’s a pretty big budget on the face of it. It became evident little fundraisers weren’t going to cut the mustard.”
However, state funding isn’t available for organizations until after they’ve been operating for a year – creating a Catch-22 for shelter organizers. But then they began working with the county’s Community Services and Workforce Development agency and were able to piggyback onto a community block grant, which allowed them to apply for part of the grant that deals with housing, Foley said.
The county received the grant, therefore so did Emmaus House.
“It has been a long time coming but it’s not something that volunteers can do overnight,” Foley said.
Foley credited San Benito County’s building community, which donated much of the supplies and did most of the work, with the shelter’s construction, and the hundreds of volunteers who have remained dedicated over the years to giving distressed women and their families a safe haven.
Once Emmaus House opens, it will be the only shelter in San Benito County for battered women. Having a place women and children can call home, at least temporarily, has been the ultimate goal of the countless volunteers who have poured their time and energy into the endeavor, said Gary Byrne, a shelter board member and director of the Community Foundation.
“Truly it’s a dream of so many people in the community coming together and being realized,” said Byrne, who’s been involved with Emmaus House for about 10 years. “The true story here is the volunteers. There has been tens and tens of thousands of hours and mostly quietly from anonymous people who want to see this happen. Nobody is wanting to put their name in lights. The need is there to benefit the women and children who have no place to go in San Benito County.”
While the county’s Victim Witness Department estimates approximately 350 women are victims of domestic violence each year, the shelter will be able to house only nine women and their families at a time.
However, the shelter is designed to be a last resort and a temporary asylum until a woman and her family are able to get back on their feet, Foley said. Currently there are no women waiting to be housed at the shelter.
The Emmaus House Board of Directors is currently looking to hire an executive director and is asking that applications be submitted by the end of the month. The right person for the job should have some type of professional counseling background, be a self-starter and ultimately get the shelter on firm financial footing to provide help for county residents for years to come, Foley said.
And although a large chunk of the operating expenses will be covered by the state grant, Foley said the shelter will still have to raise $85,000 in matching funds, and said volunteers are still needed to help organize fundraising events or solicit donations.
“There are funds available. There’s just the question of researching them (grants) and hoping people will make long-term commitments to the financial well-being of the program as well,” Foley said. “We’ve had really good support from the community. Especially now we’ll be operating – what a great concept.”
For more information about Emmaus House, call (831) 637-1357 or online at Emmaushouse.net
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
