In college I volunteered for ASPEN, Abuse Support and Prevention Education Now, an organization that helped women in domestic violence and sexual assault situations.
The volunteers and staff listened to callers on our hotline, offered beds in a shelter and paced the hallway at the hospital when girls called to say they had been raped.
I can still hear the frantic woman who called wanting to leave her physically abusive partner. He had left the house for a few minutes, and when he returned, she slammed down the phone midsentence. I have no idea what happened to her.
I talked to another woman hanging out at a hotel in Cle Elum after leaving a man that hit her. She saw a small window of opportunity and ran with it — with only her purse and a bag of dog food. Where’s your dog, I asked, fearful that he would injure the dog to get back at her. Together we arranged for a police officer to pick her up to take her to a safe place for the night and for her dog to be picked up too.
These women were brave. They took control. They tried to help themselves. And in the case with the woman and her dog food, leaving means only taking what you can carry. Look around your house — your photographs, family heirlooms, yearbooks, DVD collection, your car registered in his name and your favorite chair you curl up in. I couldn’t easily leave those behind.
I’ve had the opportunity to interview women who volunteer to help other women help themselves through the Mill Creek Women’s Club and the YWCA. They are amazing. Rather than passing judgment, these volunteers and staff reach out. They sort clothes at Working Wardrobe, they raise money and they rebuild women’s self esteem to become self sufficient, to name a few actions.
As one Women’s Club member, Kay Reissig, said to me, it’s about being grateful for what you have and giving back to people who are not as blessed as you.
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