A healing environment

This year alone, 70 to 90 women and children will find refuge in five refurbished bedrooms, one newly created bedroom and gathering spaces in a shelter for survivors of domestic violence. This is the impact of the US$4,110 that the Hope Shores Alliance in Michigan received through the initiative of the Zonta Club of Alpena-Tri County Area. Hope Shores Alliance is a multi-service agency that supports women and children in four rural counties. The grant went to their project Creating Trauma-Informed Spaces to Empower and Educate Women and Children for a Better Tomorrow.

The team reported, "The immediate impact to the well-being and overall energy in the shelter has been so very positive. While we did anticipate that outcome, we didn’t realize how quickly the residents would notice and comment on the shift in feeling as though they were in a healing environment."

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