STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
An African safari and a sojourn in a Tuscany villa became the means to building safe lives Friday night.
The Advocates auctioned off the two packages at their annual Black & White Soiree at Trail Creek Pavilion.
“It’s not just a shelter. We do a lot of education and creating awareness about issues,” said Katie Peters, a Community School senior who has helped The Advocates teach her peers about building safe relationships. “Right now I’d say our biggest issue is building tolerance for people of all races, ethnicities –that kind of thing.”
Jim Spinelli, who is succeeding Amanda Breen as board president, told the 225 attendees that the Advocates had provided shelter for 695 women and children during the past year.
“You don’t need to know everything we do because we do an awful lot,” he said. “Our services change lives and our services save lives.”
The Advocates has set its sights on a capital campaign to build more transitional housing and replace or remodel its aging office facilities. The organization is looking at a few locations in Hailey, including its current space.
It’s possible, for instance, that The Advocates could add transitional housing as part of a second story on top of its offices if it were to rebuild.
The Advocates established a Housing First program this past year to get survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible so they can begin rebuilding their lives. The four-bedroom transitional housing facility has been full since it opened in March 2016.
Transitional housing is designed to be a temporary step on the way to women finding their own place. But there has been a lack of affordable housing for them to make the transition to.
Domestic violence is the biggest cause of homelessness among women and children, The Advocates Executive Director Tricia Swartling told Soiree attendees.
It causes despair, hopelessness and a feeling that “nothing’s out there for me,” she added.
The Advocates are currently hosting 18 women and children and one dog in their shelter and nine women and children in transitional housing. Stable housing is critical for women to make the decision to remove their children and themselves from abusive situations, Swartling added.
Among those attending the Soiree were a group of women from the philanthropic Wood River Women’s Foundation—Corey Graham, Cheri Watson, Renata Beguin, Debra Rogers, Carol Sheifele-Holmes, Joanne Wetherell and Sherry Propst St. Clair.
The organization awarded $25,000 to the Housing First program earlier this year.
Also attending were Cate Cox and Jeanne Meyer.
“It’s a fabulous organization,” said Meyer.”And, besides, we both have lots of black and white outfits!”
To learn more about The Advocates, go to www.theadvocatesorg.org or call 208-788-4191. For help, call 208-788-6070 or toll free 888-676-0066.