Domestic violence shelter needs money, volunteers
Emmaus House staff recently received a $10,000 grant for
operational expenses from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. But
the recent grant is less than half of the operating expenses for
one month at the domestic violence shelter.
Domestic violence shelter needs money, volunteers
Emmaus House staff recently received a $10,000 grant for operational expenses from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. But the recent grant is less than half of the operating expenses for one month at the domestic violence shelter.
“It takes about $24,000 a month in operations to do all the services and pay staff,” said Dale Yarmuth, the executive director of Emmaus House, “To provide the women with food and essentials.”
Before the shelter opened and during the first year of operation, the board of directors and staff members received a community development block grant that helped with the initial set up and costs of running the shelter. Now the shelter needs to find funds for the day-to-day operations.
“We just went out and bought cleaning materials and toilet paper,” Yarmuth said. “Stuff like that really adds up.”
Yarmuth said the shelter has enough money to stay open through the end of June, but they are short $100,000 for the following fiscal year. An emergency grant fell through, as with the homeless shelter, which left them short of funds.
At the end of last week, four women and nine children were staying at the shelter.
“Right now we just moved out three families over the weekend so we are at our lowest level,”Yarmuth said. “We’ve been getting a lot of hotlines calls. We’ve been running 80-90 percent since we’ve opened. We’ve been full.”
One of the costly expenses for the shelter is staff salaries. The shelter has three full-time staff members and six part-time employees. They have a staff member on site 24 hours a day to handle issues and to answer calls to their 24-hour hotline.
In the first year of operation, the Emmaus House served as a temporary shelter for 68 women and 83 children.
In addition to providing a safe home, staff members and volunteers work with the women to prepare them for job searches. Twice a week counselors come in from the San Benito County Public Health department for group counseling, and Emmaus House has contracts with other counselors for one-on-one sessions.
“We also have different classes for nutrition,” Yarmuth said. “We have some [women] take first aid classes and get their first aid certificates.”
Another volunteer offers an empowerment class.
“It’s very important because that’s what really gives the women the self-esteem and motivation to make it on their own,” Yarmuth said. “Part of our overall program we have here, is to work closely with the women and do case management.”
Yarmuth and his staff keep in touch with the women when they leave the shelter. They found 44 percent of the women moved on to rent a room or an apartment on their own. Less than 10 percent went to a different shelter and only 4 percent went back to an abuser.
“We have been able to help them with job interviews,” Yarmuth said. “We teach interview skills. We help prepare their resumes and we will do a mock interview with them here just to teach them.”
For the children, local organizations have donated tickets to theater performances, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the cornfield maze.
While the shelter has been decorated with holiday lights along the hallways and Christmas tree in the living room, the staff are still looking for donations of food or gifts for the families staying at the Emmaus House during the holidays. They have an adopt-a-family program for those interested.
“We’ve had a couple of families adopted so far for Christmas,” Yarmuth said. “We expect to be full again by Christmas.”
Yarmuth said they have planned a Christmas party for the current residents and they have invited back past clients.
“We don’t just send them on their way,” Yarmuth said. “We invite them to different events so they know they still have support.”
In addition, the staff can use volunteers year round. They currently have a need for volunteers who can transport clients to appointments, take care of general office or housekeeping needs, bookkeeping or preparing children’s activities.
In the meantime, Yarmuth continues to meet with members of the Hollister city council and the San Benito County Board of Supervisors. He has asked that the shelter be added to the city budget and that they receive a portion of Measure T proceeds. The city also has a block grant available for nonprofits. Yarmuth submitted a grant request for $30,000. In addition he has been meeting with First 5 San Benito and other local agencies.
“We are working together with Health and Human Services and Community Pantry,” he said. “We are hoping for another state grant in the early part of the year[2008].”
House help made easy
While Emmaus House Executive Director Dale Yarmuth and the board members continue to search for operating funds, he has found one easy way to raise money. Internet users can donate to Emmaus House and other local charities effortlessly with Goodsearch.com.
“At goodsearch.com, you can indicated any charity you want to donate funds to,” Yarmuth said. “It gives a penny any time you search on something.”
The site is powered by advertisements and about 50 percent of the funds are given to the charities submitted. Yahoo.com powers the engine so it should produce similar results. In addition, the site also has links to many online retailers and they will donate a percentage of the sales back to the charity of your choice. As an example, Drugstore.com kicks back 5 percent while the Apple store will give 0.5 to 1.5 percent of a sale.
Resources:
www.goodsearch.com
www.emmaushouse.net
