Ninety-five cents of every dollar donated to Greene County Family Justice Center is immediately allocated to survivor support, helping us provide survivors the services that allow them to stay safe. We call these wraparound services. We often talk about the larger issues surrounding leaving an abuser, but we can also help a survivor with really basic, relatively low-cost assistance.
Survivors don’t always need to stay in a domestic abuse shelter. Some of our clients have already left their abuser, but their abuser has a key to their apartment. Or their abuser brought them to Missouri to separate them from their family and has removed their access to bank accounts and credit cards, making it impossible to travel home to the safety of their parents.
The following are just a few of the many inspiring stories of how our Change Champions, who have donated cash, have helped save lives with our wraparound services.
Apartment Door Re-key Fee
A pregnant woman had been physically assaulted by her husband multiple times. He was fleeing the police but still had a key to her apartment and continued to threaten her life, as well as the lives of their unborn child and young son. With help from our donors, we were able to assist her with the lock change fee for her apartment. Rekeying her apartment allowed her to safely stay in her home and freed up much needed space in our local shelters for other survivors in need.
Emergency Hotel Stay
A former and potentially lethal abuser from out of state tracked a woman and her two children to their home in Springfield, Missouri. The three fled for their safety, sleeping in their car for three nights in freezing temperatures. We were able to find them shelter in a new community, but bed space was not available for another seven days. Donations made a seven-night hotel stay possible to keep them safe from immediate danger. Domestic violence shelter space is limited, and more often than not, the survivors we serve are unable to find immediate shelter space when needed. When funding is available, we provide confidential hotel stays for individuals and families whose situation poses a particularly high lethal threat until space at a shelter is available.
Door Repair and Replacement
A woman’s abuser kicked in her front door, destroying the door and the frame. Donations allowed us to hire a local carpenter who was able to completely fix both the door and frame for her that day. While her abuser was arrested, she would not have been able to stay in her home without a secure front door.
Interim Hotel Stay
A woman, who was nearly murdered by her spouse, was terrified to stay on her own for fear that he would return, as he continued to evade police. Unfortunately, there were no open rooms at a shelter at that time. Donations allowed us to provide her with a four-night hotel stay, allowing her to stay safe until a room became available in an emergency domestic violence shelter.
Out-of-State Bus Fare
We were able to provide a Greyhound bus ticket to a pregnant woman who was being physically abused and involuntarily confined by her spouse. This ticket allowed her to return to her parents’ home out of state, where she now lives safely with her newborn daughter. In another circumstance, we were able to provide a Greyhound bus ticket for a victim who was brought to Missouri three years ago by her abuser and had since been isolated from her family and friends. This ticket allowed her to escape her abuser and return safely to her family.
Secure Personal Documents
We have been able to provide numerous clients with copies of birth certificates, identification, and other important legal documents that have been destroyed or kept hidden away by their abuser. Without these essential documents, survivors are prevented from accessing affordable housing, employment, childcare, and governmental assistance programs.
Transportation Services
Donations provide much needed transportation assistance for multiple survivors who need help getting to our center to access our services.
Rental Deposit Fees
We are able to provide rental deposit assistance for multiple survivors and their children who have the means to maintain housing on their own, but do not have the total initial funds needed to place a deposit.
Prescription Assistance
Donations allow us to help clients get lifesaving prescription medications for them or their children that they may have lost access to when fleeing their abuser.
Donations are the lifeblood of our organization, and we can’t thank you enough for continuing to give generously. Together we’re making the Ozarks a safer place by helping eradicate intimate partner violence.
About GCFJC
The Greene County Family Justice Center is a non-profit collaborative of local agencies offering comprehensive services to survivors of domestic, sexual, and family violence. Our services are trauma-informed, survivor-centered, and we welcome survivors at any point in their process. We partner with local non-profit service providers as well as local law enforcement, the Prosecutor’s office, and Children’s Division to make victim services more accessible and completely voluntary. If you do not want to participate in the criminal justice process, we support you.
Our vision is a future where we all work together to meet the needs of domestic violence and human trafficking survivors through comprehensive and accessible services, education, and perpetrator accountability. Through a coordinated framework and co-located response, we strive to break the vicious generational cycle and community impact of domestic violence and resulting victimizations.
We can help you plan for your safety whether you plan to stay in the relationship, or you are actively trying to escape. All our services are free, confidential and survivor centered. Have questions about what services are available? Visit us at 1418 E. Pythian Street or give us a call at 417-874-2600. We are open 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. For after-hours assistance, call the Harmony House/Victim Center’s 24-hour safe line at 417-864-SAFE (7233). If you are in immediate danger, please call 911.