On April 7th from 8am-8pm, any donations you make to NWA Women’s Shelter through the ArkansasGives website will also qualify us for additional bonus dollars from the Arkansas Community Foundation. Will you consider joining Arkansans from across the state to make a donation to help grow our community?
There is strength and power in numbers. We hope you will join us as we work to stop violence one family at a time.
Written by John McGee
Early in my career I attended a conference in which one of the speakers indicated that the agency he worked for did not have a planned giving program. Their reasoning was they hoped to solve the problem before they would realize any significant revenue from estate gifts.
Unfortunately, that is not the case when one looks at the problem of domestic or sexual abuse and violence. Evidence would suggest that it will be quite some time before cultural norms, behavior, and expectations change enough to eliminate the practice of one trying to dominant or have power over another. It will be some time before healthy relationship education and training will take hold across the generations and the inter-generational exposure to abusive relationship will be outlived.
I mention this not because I want people to see the magnitude of the challenge society has to eliminate domestic abuse/violence and sexual assault; rather, for one to understand how courageous an individual is who tries to break out of an abusive relationship. While all involved in abuse prevention work strive to create an environment that encourages those courageous steps, more needs to be done. This work needs to be done not only by organizations involved in the work but by individuals, corporations, churches, and community groups who interact with those who are striving to live a life free of violence and abuse.
Support systems need to be strengthened. Awareness education needs to be enhanced. Programs and polices need to be in place to ensure that when one decides to break from an abusive relationship, they can succeed. Employers need to know how to respond in a supportive and constructive manner when one of their own finds themselves in an abusive relationship.
One of the things we do as do most domestic violence shelters is to work with those who come to us for support in understanding that they are not to blame for the behavior of their abuser. The abuser chooses to be abusive and chooses abusive and offensive behavior as a way of exerting control over them.
Just understanding and accepting that can be liberating. It enables one to begin the process of fulfilling their personal promise and potential. This process is not easy. It may require a significant change in an individual’s mindset and those types of changes do not occur overnight.
Consequently, for NWAWS and our fellow domestic violence shelters, our staff is our program. They work with those in need to help them make the journey to a violence and abuse free life—a journey that may take years to accomplish. As a result, services need to be provided inside and outside of the sheltered environment. This journey may have many fits and starts and hills and valleys, but it is one well worth taking.
Keeping a shelter staffed 24/7 during 365 days a year is expensive. It requires the financial support of the community served. We cannot deny that the community benefits when an individual breaks the bonds of an abusive relationship and becomes a self-supportive, contributing member of that community. It benefits when an individual with children can start modeling a healthy relationship to their children, lessening the likelihood of inter-generational transfer of abusive behavior.
The return on your investment in a domestic violence program is not measured in dollars returned but in lives saved, futures improved, and promises and potential met.
There is no time like the present to invest in your local domestic violence shelter and the work they do.
We invite you to partner with NWA Women’s Shelter as we work to give victims and survivors of domestic violence the tools to build lives free from abuse for themselves and their families. Each day we work to give hope. Would you become a partner of hope with us? Visit our donation page to find out how you can get involved by meeting our tangible needs. Interested in volunteering? Check out our volunteer page, as well.
Written by John McGee 
April is National Volunteer Awareness Month. bns gold Frequently we forget to recognize our volunteers, and all too frequently we forget to recognize those volunteers who helped build an organization. Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, originally incorporated as the Benton County Women’s Shelter in August 1986, would not still be in existence without the help of volunteers. ASICS PAS CHER FR Very early in our history, a group of individuals created the Benton County Women’s Shelter Auxiliary. The purpose of the Auxiliary was “to provide an opportunity for caring persons to assist the Benton County Women’s Shelter Project in their very important work with battered women and their children.” As reflected in a brochure produced by the Soroptimist International of Northwest Arkansas dated September 28, 1988, the purpose of the project was “to actually establish a shelter…” That brochure contains a sample of a card advising individuals on a number to call, what to take if leaving an abusive relationship, and advice on why one might call a domestic violence hotline. goedkoop nike air max 2017 By November of 1988, the auxiliary was organized with elected leaders, a dues structure, a purpose of raising resources for a shelter, and a campaign to educate the community on the issues of domestic violence. These volunteers organized seminars, brought in speakers, produced informational press releases, and started raising funds to fulfill their purpose. In a January 1989 appeal for members, the auxiliary recorded its purpose as “formed to assist the Project in fund raising and volunteer services.”
Invitation to the First Membership Tea of the Rogers Unit of the Benton County Women’s Shelter Auxiliary
For the next eight years the auxiliary grew, developed multiple units, created a thrift store, and became a power within the organization because of its ability generate revenue. At one point the funds generated by the auxiliary represented close to 40% of all the operating funds accessible by the organization. nike air max pas cher Many of the contributions these founding volunteers provided still shape how we operate. While the thrift store generates only about 20% of our current overall operating revenue, the shelter would not be in existence today without the income-generating power of the thrift store. Many individuals, particularly Jamie Percell, were crucial in creating and establishing the foundation of the thrift store. Originally known as the Friendship House Thrift Store, the NWA Women’s Shelter Thrift Store (now located at 1622 W. 8th Street in Rogers) is still dependent upon the help and assistance of dedicated volunteers. To each and every individual who has ever volunteered at the shelter, in the thrift store (regardless of the name it carried), with a fundraising activity that benefited the Benton County Women’s Shelter/Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, or who served on our volunteer Board of Directors, thank you. Our professional staff know we accomplish what we do because you make it possible. Early on, nearly everything we did was reliant on the kindness, talent, and time of volunteers. As we grew, more and more work shifted to the staff. Today, as a relatively new individual in the history of this shelter, I recognize that everything I do or that my wonderful and talented staff does is an effort to build on the contributions of volunteers—volunteers who decided the region needed a shelter, the community needed to be educated on the issues, and the resources needed to be identified to make it happen have been, and continue to be, essential to our work. I know this might be too late for some, but on behalf of everyone connected with the NWA Women’s Shelter today, thank you, thank you, thank you for your labor of love, for your dedication, and for your support. For those who are still able, you are more than welcome to join us again however you might be able to participate. Chaussures ASICS Gel Glorify pour Femme The mission of the auxiliary is still as relevant and important to us today in our work to empower families to live free of violence as it was in 1988.