Thoughts for Safe Harbor

In anticipation of working with Safe Harbor as a client, it was an incredible experience to visit the completely unmarked and confidential shelter where victims of domestic abuse can put the pieces of their life back together.  The peaceful atmosphere of the house is reflected in the hopeful expressions on the faces of its inhabitants. I learned there are actually two Safe Harbor shelters. The site in Greenville is capable of hosting 34 people while 20 people can stay at the Anderson site, offering a haven of rest to a total of 54 individuals at a time. Depending on their life goals and specific situation, clients typically stay an average of eight weeks. When clients reenter the world, Safe Harbor offers follow-up support and encourages continued contact. Learning about the heart of the organization’s mission was fascinating. Staff member Julie Meredith described the long and difficult process through which individuals gain the empowerment of leaving an abusive relationship, calling it one of the most “frightening and courageous actions a person can take.” It often takes a victim five to seven times of leaving to actually abandon an abusive relationship for good. In Safe Harbor they have a place where they can go in hard times and not be alone.

After relaying the mission of the organization, Julie expressed the needs and desires of Safe Harbor.  Currently in the spotlight is the Relationship Education Project (REP). The goal of REP is to raise awareness of relationship abuse and engage, educate, and empower healthy choices. Focusing on teen violence, the targeted audience is high school and college students, especially females between the ages of 16-24. Safe Harbor is also seeking to raise awareness of the fact that while mainly serving women and children, the organization does provide emergency accommodations and counseling for men. Julie also asked for continued effort in educating the community on the signs of domestic violence. Unfortunately, victims may not realize they are being abused or are in potential danger. Thus, it is crucial to promote awareness of stereotypes and the actual meaning of domestic violence. Finally, Julie talked about a need for funds, particularly to improve their capability of providing child counsel and therapy.

To accomplish these goals, we brainstormed several possible ideas for projects.

1. Relationship Education Project

In regards to REP, a small group could work on the creation of a new website that presents the difficult subject of relationship violence in a teen-friendly way. If linked to Facebook, this website could rapidly increase its number of followers. We could encourage students to “like” the Facebook page and then provide links leading to more in-depth information. This project could take place over the course of the semester.

2. Raising Awareness on Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the official color is purple. On Facebook and other social media sites, we could promote the color purple and its meaning by encouraging users to update their profile pictures and statuses to a graphic containing purple and words reflecting the cause it supports. We discussed the idea of having a small group of representatives from the class approach Central Spirit with the possibility of promoting a campus wide purple out at a football game. This should take place in October for maximum awareness. It would also be worthwhile to host an event on campus at Clemson, where an educational speaker could give a presentation on the effects of dating abuse on college students.

3.  Fundraising for Safe Harbor

We discussed the possibility of asking a popular local restaurant to host an awareness day. Using social media and flyers for promotion, we could describe the specific need for funds to be raised to provide child therapy and counsel at Safe Harbor. Parents who are bringing their children to a family-friendly restaurant such as Chick-Fil-A would be informed that a portion of the proceeds from every item sold are donated to Safe Harbor. Individuals who have children of their own would receive an appeal to help other children in difficult circumstances. Awareness materials could be simultaneously distributed. Another great idea targeting a different population representation was to have a purple drink night where Safe Harbor received a donation from every purple drink sold at certain venues. Information could be printed on coasters that are given out with each drink.