Donations benefit victims of abuse

Members of the Franklin County Domestic Violence Response Coalition donated items collected during a recent supply drive to Safeplace, Inc. Pictured L to R: Frank Hoehn, Ginger Stone, Suzanne Fuller, Pam Ergle, Kathy Archer, Stephanie Gordon and David Hester.

Thanks to the help of one local organization and many others in the community, people who have been victims of abuse and domestic violence will be receiving much needed supplies.
The Franklin County Domestic Violence Response Coalition (DVRC) held a supply drive during the month of October in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The group enlisted the support of many area businesses, schools and individuals to collect different necessity items that were all recently donated to Safeplace, Inc., which serves the counties of Franklin Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion and Winston and is one of 19 domestic violence shelters serving the victims of abuse in Alabama.
Suzanne Fuller, volunteer and transitional program manager for Safeplace, Inc., said the items will be used by those who come to Safeplace for help and who use the three transitional homes that are located in the county.
“We truly appreciate the Franklin County Domestic Violence Coalition for their continued support and the businesses and citizens of the county who donated items to the supply drive,” Fuller said.
“These every day items may not seem like much, but they are things many of these families need during a time when they are trying to get back on their feet.”
According to Safeplace statistics from January to August of 2012, the total number of victims, children and batterers that Safeplace helped from Franklin County was 407, which includes 305 victims, 91 children and 11 batterers.
Safeplace stats also show they received 153 crisis calls from Franklin County in that same timeframe, 466 in-residence referrals to support services for Franklin residents, housed 24 adults and 28 children from Franklin County, had 10 women who attended a support group and had 36 batterers from Franklin County who were sent to a PEACE program.
Fuller said if people in the community still want to donate items to Safeplace, it’s never too late to do so.
“Even though the supply drive is over, you cans till go to our website and click on the “Wishes” link and it has items that are linked to a special Amazon wish list of things we need,” Fuller said.
“And you can always call the office at anytime and we can come and pick-up any items you want to donate.”
The website for Safeplace, Inc. is www.nwalsafeplace.org and the phone number is 256-767-3076.
Safeplace, Inc., would like to thank the following groups for their participation in the supply drive:
Russellville High School, Tharptown High School, Phil Campbell High School, Red Bay High School, Belgreen High School, Northwest-Shoals Community College’s Phil Campbell campus, Bank Independent, CB&S Bank, Community Spirit Bank, First Metro Bank, Valley State Bank, Russellville First United Methodist Church, Tharptown Baptist Church, Praise Tabernacle, Southside Baptist Church, Red Bay First United Methodist Church, Red Bay First Baptist Church, Red Bay Freewill Baptist Church, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Russellville Book Lovers Study Club, the employees of the Franklin County Courthouse, Russellville Big Star, Red Bay Big Star, Red Bay Piggly Wiggly and Phil Campbell Piggly Wiggly.