Collier County deputies teach Manatee Middle School students how to tie a tie as part of The Shelter’s eight-week Raising Gentle’men program.

While smart technology — web-controlled devices like locks, lights, thermostats and cameras — can provide convenience and a sense of security for some, these tools are increasingly being used by others to monitor, harass, stalk and intimidate.

Making A Difference
By Joe Landon
The Collier Citizen, Oct. 27, 2018
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Today, during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we have good news to share for the women and children who live in Immokalee who fall victim to domestic violence and human trafficking.

The Shelter for Abused Women & Children in Naples is doing an amazing job serving the needs of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking and has for years. Last year alone they provided 24,389 nights of shelter, dealt with 2,243 calls to their crisis hotline and created 18,406 safety plans.

While residents of Immokalee are being ably served by The Shelter’s Immokalee Outreach Office, victims of abuse in Immokalee must currently travel 45 minutes to Naples for safe shelter. Many don’t have transportation and may be reluctant to be that far away from their support systems like jobs, schools, friends and family.

Kaydee Tuff, the shelter’s communications manager, tells us that “many more survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking would seek shelter if it were available in their own community.” And Tuff laments the fact that “today many return to unsafe circumstances rather than travel to Naples for emergency shelter.”

While the services of the Immokalee office have grown exponentially since it was established 21 years ago, and although the Immokalee office has been recognized as a national model for the wonderful work being done there, a recent needs assessment demonstrated a growing need for a separate shelter to be built there.

 “This much-needed shelter will soon become a reality,” said Linda Oberhaus, Shelter CEO. “It is a project that has been in our plans for several years. But a $3 million lead gift from Naples philanthropist Shelly Stayer allowed us to fast-track this project, which will save and transform many lives.”

Fundraising has been underway since October of 2016 and thus far the RISE campaign, as it’s called, has brought in $9.2 million toward a goal of $10.8 million to break ground. RISE, by the way, is an acronym for Respond to the need, Inspire others, Support the mission and Empower survivors. The overall fundraising goal is $15.8 million.

Zoning for the 32-bed, 21,000 square-foot Shelly Stayer Shelter in Immokalee was approved by the county this month, and groundbreaking will take place in the spring. According to Oberhaus, the facility will feature three main areas: a section to accommodate the long-term therapeutic needs of victims of human trafficking; a section to shelter victims of domestic violence; and a section dedicated to Immokalee outreach.

So, what will having a shelter in Immokalee mean as far as its residents are concerned? A lot, says Norma Rodriguez, Immokalee outreach manager. “Victim families in need of safe shelter have historically been underserved in the Immokalee community. We are hopeful that a stay at The Shelter will provide families with the safety and support they need to create peace in their lives and break the generational cycle of abuse,” she stresses.

Women who’ve been helped by The Shelter in Naples are certainly grateful for its existence. One former resident credits The Shelter for saving what she calls her most beautiful new life. “I have never felt more loved than there,” she adds. Another calls The Shelter a “light in a dark place for me.” And yet another thanks the people who run The Shelter for providing her soul with a sense of safety.

Should you wish to support The Shelter for Abused Women & Children’s mission to prevent, protect and prevail over domestic violence and human trafficking, or if you’d like to donate to the Shelly Stayer Shelter directly, visit www.naplesshelter.org. Volunteers are needed, as well.

Joe Landon is a communications consultant having retired as executive director of communications for the Collier County School District. Send suggestions for future columns to JoeLandon@Outlook.com.

As part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Shelter advocates held a candlelight vigil and stone release. View photos from these special events.

The Shelter for Abused Women & Children and the Humane Society Naples teamed up to host Purple Paws for Peace, Oct. 10, at Veterans Park in Naples.

Naples Daily News Editorial
Oct. 5, 2018

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The dirty outside world is pretty scary these days.

Red tide has persisted on and off for nearly a year, making it a daily uncertainty whether it’s safe to go to the beach for fear of respiratory distress or the unpleasant sight of dead sea life washed up on the beach. In the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area and as far south as the Lee-Collier county line, blue-green toxic algae has spoiled waterways. Now there’s a recent bloom that’s turned Gulf waters brown along Collier’s coastline.

Then there’s politics, from the battle over a U.S. Supreme Court nomination to Washington, D.C., stagnated by polarized parties to candidates for high office in the state accusing one another of lying, deceit and corruption. Its omnipresent in the outside world as the Nov. 6 election approaches.

Yet October is a month to remember that, for some, scary is defined by what’s within the walls of their residence. They can’t look beyond the despair of living within those walls to fret much about the outside world. They live in physical, emotional and-or financial fear of an abusive, controlling or violent person.

In our scary world, this is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

All around us

The Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence website offers some national and state figures of the magnitude of the problem:

» 1.3 million women yearly are victims of physical assault by a partner.

» On average, three women are killed by husbands or boyfriends every day in the U.S.

» More than 100,000 domestic violence acts annually are reported to Florida law officers, based on the latest available data.

But that’s the nation and state. It can’t happen here in Southwest Florida where it’s paradise, right? It can. It does.

Recent news reports chronicled violence in Collier County targeting two female teenagers who each had been involved in relationships. Last year there was a deadly case that ended in a murder-suicide of senior citizens in one of Collier’s more affluent gated communities; authorities said domestic violence was in the home.

In a guest commentary publishing Sunday on these pages, The Shelter for Abused Women & Children reports that in 2017 in Collier there were 1,794 reports of domestic violence, or nearly five every day. Those numbers included two killings, 29 rapes and 317 aggravated assaults, the shelter reports.

The shelter provided a pin map showing where those 1,794 domestic violence calls came from that led to written reports by law enforcement officers. It’s shocking documentation of a concentration of calls in every population center in Collier. No, this isn’t a problem just in communities historically thought to be higher crime areas. It’s pervasive.

Act on the act

As the calendar turned to October and National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the clock shamefully was running out on the federal Violence Against Women Act.

Approved in 1994, the act was designed, in part, to provide money to social service agencies that support victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The act was approved after a historic battle over a Supreme Court nomination in 1991 in which sexual harassment allegations were raised. Sound familiar?

The act was set to expire Sept. 30.

President Trump signed a bill keeping the government open that included extending the act’s existence into early December.

October is a month for special attention to domestic violence. November is a month for elections. By December, we hope federal lawmakers are prepared to consider extending the act on more than a temporary basis.

Social media posts about strange men targeting women at big box stores have been shared thousands of times, but do human traffickers target stores such as Target and Walmart? ABC-7 reporter Simone Cuccurullo asked the experts how most human traffickers target their victims.

An East Naples man is accused of killing his 18-year-old girlfriend inside his apartment. Collier County deputies arrested Santiago Burbano, 20, for the murder of Rubi Velasco. According to Burbano’s arrest report, his mother called 911 after finding her son in his bedroom at the Tuscan Isle Apartments on Weir Drive.

Thank you to everyone who assisted with this year’s “Give Back – Fill A Pack” Back to School Drive. With your support, we were able to assist 225 students to ensure they had the tools needed for a successful school year.