- Advocates
- Child Care
- After School Care
- On-site kennel
We are grateful to Naples United Church of Christ for their support.
The Shelter recently received a check for $350,000 from the Naples Children & Education Foundation, founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. This funding will provide a variety of children’s programs and services at The Shelter.
Nordstrom Cares recently awarded a $10,000 grant to support The Shelter’s Healing Arts program. The program utilizes yoga, breath work, creative writing, art therapy, meditation, drumming circles and other clinically proven methods to help victims of domestic violence and human trafficking move toward wholeness and personal growth in the aftermath of trauma.
For more information on the Healing Arts Program, click here
The Suncoast Credit Union has been a wonderful partner to The Shelter, providing a variety of grants through its Suncoast Credit Union Foundation since 2008.
This year, The Shelter received a $5,000 grant to support the purchase of supplies and materials for our Onsite Child Care Program which serves families in our emergency shelter. Thank you!
Thirteen women recently graduated from The Shelter’s Allstate Financial Literacy classes, sponsored by the Allstate Foundation. As a result of these classes, we continue to see participants meeting their financial goals. Most of our participants are meeting their goal to make monthly deposits into their Individual Development Account (IDA), which will be matched by The Shelter through the Allstate Foundation at the end of the one-year class.
Each month, participants meet with their Economic Empowerment Advocate to discuss personal financial goals, which may include things like resume building, job readiness, repairing credit, English classes, securing or advancing employment, and furthering their education to enhance their skills set.
Participants are also following the budget established with their advocate and are saving money, many of them for the first time in their lives. One participant saved enough funding to take part in the Habitat for Humanity program and now has a home for herself and her daughter.
The program also helps survivors create an emergency fund that will make it possible to leave their abusers. Victims of domestic violence who have more financial independence from their abusers are more likely to leave and remain violence free. To empower survivors, The Shelter has partnered with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Allstate Foundation to provide survivors with financial literacy.
Thanks to a grant from the Allstate Foundation, participants attend four financial classes in October and then continue with monthly individual counseling sessions with The Shelter’s Economic Empowerment Advocate for one year. At the beginning of the program, participants open an Individual Development Account at a designated bank and save on a monthly basis. After a year of saving, the women receive a match. The amount of the match depends on the funding received by The Shelter. Economic empowerment groups are also held in emergency shelter.
During the classroom portion of the program, participants learned about identity theft, budgeting and saving, banking options, credit basics, investments, car maintenance, insurance, taxes, housing, job readiness and more.
Leaving an abusive relationship is a process, not an event; survivors often return several times before the separation is permanent. Economic dependency is the strongest predictor of a survivor’s decision to remain, leave, or return to an abusive relationship.
CLICK HERE to learn more about The Allstate Financial Literacy Program. For more information on The Shelter, call 239-775-3862 or email sdorfman@naplesshelter.org
Shelter Executive Director Linda Oberhaus accepts a $10,000 Bank of America Foundation grant from Gerri Moll, President, Southwest Florida branch.
Through the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has supported The Shelter for Abused Women & Children by providing a variety of grants since 2005. More recently, The Shelter was the recipient of the Foundation’s Basic Human Needs Grant, which provides basic necessities for individuals and families facing complex financial challenges.
The Foundation provides philanthropic resources, employees and expertise to address the issues of hunger and lack of access to benefit resources, supportive housing and shelter. This comprehensive response helps bring significant resources to nonprofit partners serving the community – as they continue to help struggling individuals and families at their point of need – delivering integrated services and offering access to financial education and coaching.
Thank you to Troy Halbisen for his gift of free back-to-school haircuts for 17 Immokalee youngsters. On July 27, Halbisen, a hairstylist at The Ritz-Carlton, set up shop in The Shelter’s Immokalee Outreach Office and put his “snippers” to good use.
If you have special skills or time that you would like to share with Shelter participants, call The Shelter at 239.775.6842 or CLICK HERE for more information!
The Shelter is grateful to the helping and healing hands provided by Richard and Martina Muller, owners of DiVine Spa in Naples. Since January, the Mullers have generously provided free monthly massages and facials to our Shelter residents and participants. It is a wonderful gift that most of these women would likely never have the chance to experience without this kind gesture.
Thank you to the Board of Mission & Outreach at Naples United Church of Christ for their grant award of $3,000 to benefit The Shelter’s emergency shelter. The grant will be utilized to purchase one filtered bottle filling stating for the emergency shelter and one ice machine bin that will be utilized by shelter residents, participants utilizing our onsite services and staff.
Last year, funding from the NUCC Board of Mission benefitted The Shelter’s Transitional Housing program and Emergency Shelter.
Transitional Housing provides addresses one of the top needs for survivors of domestic violence. Since 2008, The Shelter’s Transitional Housing program has provided safe, affordable, and supportive transitional housing for survivors of domestic violence and their children who are facing homelessness. It is the goal of Transitional Housing to maintain an empowerment-based, safe and secure living environment for domestic violence survivors.
The Emergency Shelter is a state-of-the-art 60-bed residential shelter located at a confidential site in Naples; serving all of Collier County, FL. In addition to providing a safe haven, The Shelter provides:
The Shelter received a check for $1,000 during the Wells Fargo Community Bank Community Connection Breakfast, April 20, 2016. The donation will further The Shelter’s mission to prevent, protect and prevail over domestic violence and human trafficking.
From left, Monette Regis, Bayside District Manager; Shelter Grants Manager Sandra Marrero, and Donna J. Niroomand, Branch Manager at The Strand.
From left, Lucy Ortiz, volunteer; Sara Howell, Pro Literacy Project Manager; Elizabeth Holloway, instructor; Evelyn Gannon, volunteer; and Todd Evans, Pro Literacy Program Manager.
On April 19, 2015, several of The Shelter’s Immokalee Outreach Office team members met with Todd Evans and Sara Howell of Pro Literacy to discuss the “Stay’N Connected” initiative, which expands access to Adult Literacy Services.
In March 2015, The Shelter launched Stay’N Connected as an eight-week pilot program to assist native Spanish-speakers, who often face barriers getting out of an abusive environment because of limited English language skills.
For more information on Stay’N Connected, CLICK HERE
The Shelter has earned the honor of being named a Naples Alliance for Children (NAFC) 2015 Family Friendly Workplace. Each year, NAFC searches for agencies of all sized that love families and show it.
Naples Alliance for Children is pleased to have The Shelter as a great example of how employers mix traditional and innovative ways to help employees balance the needs of their families with the demands of their jobs. Agencies who receive this honor have met the NAFC Family Friendly Workplace criteria. Research shows that balancing “work lives” with “personal lives” means employees can do their best in both areas.
Click here for more information on the Naples Alliance for Children.
Thank you to Ann Bares, Vice President Volunteer Engagement with United Way, and 15 volunteers from the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck, and King, who volunteered two hours of time to The Shelter’s Options Thrift Shop, June 24. The volunteers organized artwork in the warehouse, tested the store’s electronics, color coordinated the men’s and women’s clothes on the floor, among other much appreciated services. We are grateful for the efforts of this fun, enthusiastic and hard working group.
Thank you to the Sababa BBG #2552 Chapter for their support for The Shelter.
The group is a teen-led pluralistic Jewish youth movement with roots embedded in 90 years of tradition, culture, and brotherhood/sisterhood. The teens are given different initiatives, one of which is called ‘Stand -Up,’ where teens from across the international order ‘Stand-Up’ for causes that they feel passionate about. The Naples chapter chose to Stand-Up against domestic violence this year and raise awareness by hosting social action events and taking part in community service activities. Proceeds from their events and activities will benefit The Shelter for Abused Women & Children.
On May 3, they celebrated “Mind, Body, Attitude (MBA) Day,” with a day full of events including women’s self defense, yoga, and mediation with discussions on women’s safety, body image, and domestic violence prevention.
The Shelter is grateful to these dedicated, community-minded young women and their service to help us prevent, protect and prevail over domestic violence.
The Shelter is grateful for the support of the PNC Foundation.
In 2016, PNC Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant for The Shelter’s Transitional Housing Program.
Affordable housing remains a top need for survivors of domestic violence. Since 2008, The Shelter’s Transitional Housing program has provided safe, affordable, and supportive transitional housing for survivors of domestic violence and their children who are facing homelessness. It is the goal of Transitional Housing to maintain an empowerment-based, safe and secure living environment for domestic violence survivors.
PNC Foundation funding helped supply the program with salaries, repair and maintenance, security, supplies, utilities, and direct client support.
Donna Loomis, President of The League Club, Inc., left, with Shelter Executive Director Linda Oberhaus.
At the recommendation of its Civic Involvement Committee, The Community Trust Fund of The League Club, Inc. recently awarded $10,000 to The Shelter for Abused Women & Children. These funds will be used to purchase adult bikes with locks and lights, small appliances and bedding for the emergency shelter.
The grant was presented to Shelter Executive Director Linda Oberhaus during a Briefcase Breakfast, April 10, 2015 at the Naples Sailing & Yacht Club.
“The needs are great and the decisions that our grants review committee must make are difficult,” said Donna Loomis, President of The League Club. “We are grateful to our membership of nearly 600 local women, our special supporters in our Circle of Friends, and other community supporters and commercial sponsors whose financial generosity makes these grants possible each year.”
The League Club, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization of women in Southwest Florida strengthening communities through fellowship, education, volunteerism and philanthropy. The League Club is open to women who have been or are still are active members of a Junior League that is a member of the Association of Junior Leagues International. For more information, go to www.theleagueclub.org
The Shelter is thankful for a recently $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Collier County’s Women of Initiative Grant Fund. Proceeds from the grant will be used to fund a human trafficking emergency shelter advocate at The Shelter.
The issue of human trafficking in Collier County recently came to light after a sex trafficking ring was uncovered operating in Southwest Florida. Language barriers, a fear of deportation and a distrust of authorities all conspiring to keep the victims from accessing help. Victim advocates say they have seen a shift in the nature of human trafficking in the region – read more.
For over a decade, Members of Collier’s Reserve Country Club have hosted an annual fundraiser to help local charities in need. This year, the Club’s Community Service Committee set a goal of raising $30,000 to fund The Shelter for Abused Women and Children’s Medical Responder Training Program. Response was overwhelming as the Club’s 325 members rallied to raise $103,000 (gross amount) to support victims of domestic violence in Collier County.
Sandy Roth, Co-Chair of the Community Services Committee, credited the success of the event to the passionate committee members who tirelessly sought out sponsorships and silent auction donations.
Photo: Members of the Collier’s Reserve Country Club Community Services Committee were proud to support the The Shelter for Abused Women and Children’s Medical Responder Program.
