Expanding the SafePlace

(December 20, 2005) “The SafePlace emergency shelter offers a life line to hundreds of women and children each year. However, our current space is limits our ability to serve survivors of sexual and domestic violence.  It is crucial to support the expansion of shelter programs in order to help meet the growing need for safety from violence,” explained Mary Pontarolo, executive director.

SafePlace is striving to meet the needs of the community through our shelter expansion project. The renovation and expansion of a donated building for a new emergency shelter is slated to begin in winter of 2005, with the hopes of being completed by August 2006. This project is the culmination of the efforts of many volunteers, community members and staff. The $2M project will build the new SafePlace shelter and the capacity of our organization to serve clients and our community.

The facility will allow the agency to nearly double our capacity to house survivors. It will include ten bedrooms, 28 beds and approximately 5,500 square feet of space. “The space is bigger, but more importantly it is a space designed with those we serve in mind,” said e. ellington, residential services director. “We will have private bedrooms for a single person, or a mother and one child, bedrooms for three person families, and at least one bedroom for a family of six,” she explained. All rooms in the shelter will be fully ADA accessible.

The new shelter will also offer work space to allow staff growth and the enhancement of services. This means a new and improved play space for children, private space for support groups and individual counseling, a large common space for group activities and a double kitchen. Additionally, advocates and volunteers will have a more effective space to work in, reducing stress and allowing for better service provision.

To date, SafePlace has secured 80% of the total funding needed for the project. These funds include support from Washington State Housing Trust Fund, Federal Home Loan Bank, City of Olympia, Housing Authority of Thurston County, US Bancorp, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and generous individual donations. We are now focused on reaching out to our individual and foundation donors to raise the final 20% needed to complete the project.

Over the next three months board and staff will be asking our already generous donors for an extra gift to apply to the shelter project. An extra annual donation to the campaign will make the vision of serving more clients and improving the quality of services a reality. If you would like, please send your gift today.