The Dawn Center will be renovated and expanded, thanks to grants. It still needs donations of food.
By KELLY VIRELLA
Published March 2, 2004
Once a month, the crisis comes. All 24 beds at the Dawn Center, the only domestic violence shelter in Hernando County, fill up, then a new battered woman comes knocking on the door with her children.
The staff can't turn them away. So a family who is inside the shelter must go.
A woman who has been inside long enough to get stable often volunteers to go to a shelter in Pasco or Citrus County. But resolving the space crunch that has been arising at the center for the past 18 months has always meant robbing Pearl to pay Pauline.
Soon, the frequency of that dilemma may subside. On Monday the center is set to begin a $200,000 renovation and expansion that will add 16 beds and 2,500 square feet of space to the 4,000-square-foot building. By September, the center is scheduled to get:
Three new bedrooms that can accommodate families as large as six.
Two new bathrooms.
A 20-foot by 15-foot children's playroom.
A 10-foot by 10-foot children's counseling room.
Remodeling in the existing kitchen, dining room and four bathrooms.
"If a woman is brave enough to leave her own home, it's important that we be able to offer her the nicest, safest location because she deserves it," said Stephanie Walley, the center's executive director. "She's the bravest woman in the world."
One in four American women suffer physical, emotional, mental, sexual or financial abuse or isolation, Walley said. In Hernando County, that amounts to 20,000 women, Walley said.
As evidence, she pointed to the separate domestic violence court that the county holds most Tuesdays. "It's packed in there," she said. "It's so busy; we really need another one."
With so many retirees, that estimate of abuse in Hernando County may seem counterintuitive. But Wally said some men don't start battering their wives until they retire and begin spending more time at home. Other abusers don't let old age slow them down.
The elderly abusers' brand of cruelty is unique, she said. They may withhold their wives' medicine and food.
"A woman who has been beaten up for 40 years of her life is unlikely to leave her home," Walley said. "On the other hand, women come in here all the time saying, "I know I've only got 10 years to live, but I want to live in peace."'
On Monday, contractors are scheduled to begin ripping out the old walls in the kitchen and dining room. Renovations should be finished by the end of March, while the expansion is set to begin in mid April and end by September, Walley said.
Most of the work is being paid for by a $179,000 state grant. The remaining $18,000 is coming from a Hernando County grant. The center also raised $5,000 to furnish the new children's playroom.
The only other thing the center needs to finish the project is meals for the families who will be at the center during the 10 days the kitchen is being renovated, Walley said.
- To help the Dawn Center with meals, call 352 686-8759 and ask for Stephanie Walley. For domestic violence and rape or sexual violence counseling, call (352) 799-0657. Kelly Virella can be reached at (352) 848-1434. Send e-mail to kvirella@sptimes.com
