Dove House Advocacy Services
Project: Safety-net services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault
Request: $15,000
Your gift is a safe night, a full tank, and a way out.
Dove House Advocacy Services has been Jefferson County's crisis and advocacy center for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault for 44 years. Its mission is to empower victims of crime and abuse through education, advocacy and crisis intervention. Every service is free. Every service is confidential. No police report is required, and there is no deadline; survivors can come at any point in their lives.
Roughly 600 adults and children receive advocacy each year. In 2025, emergency housing and advocacy served approximately 178 people in 59 families fleeing domestic violence and experiencing homelessness.
What happens when someone leaves
Safety planning is the first thing an advocate does. From there the work is intensely practical: emergency shelter, or a hotel room when the shelter is full; food; clothing; hygiene products; therapy; phones; gas to reach an appointment or hold onto a job.
Dove House operates the only shelter in the county that houses families, and it is pet friendly — a detail that matters more than it sounds, because many people will not leave a dangerous home if it means abandoning an animal. Advocates use a Housing First model adapted for survivors, meeting with each guest weekly to identify needs, barriers and goals, with the aim of moving people into long-term housing so the next person can come in.
The 24-hour crisis line brings advocates to the hospital for forensic exams, to domestic violence calls, and to the Children's Advocacy Center to support children and non-offending parents. After an exam, a survivor receives a bag containing underwear, socks, shoes, a brush, soap and soft clothes. It costs very little. It restores something significant.
Here are the problems you can help solve
First, starting over is expensive, and it happens all at once. A family that leaves may arrive with nothing at all; every item from pajamas to a toothbrush to a bed has to be replaced simultaneously, on no notice, with no savings.
Second, in a rural county, transportation is safety. Dove House reports spending more on gas and vehicle repairs than ever, because a working car is how a survivor keeps a job, reaches medical appointments, buys food, and follows a safety plan. Households are being forced to choose among housing, fuel and food.
Third, the shelter is frequently full, and hotel stays get costly fast — especially in a tourist town where rooms sell out.
Fourth, the funding is eroding from several directions at once. Dove House reports cuts from state and local government, changes to SNAP and Medicare rippling through every household it serves.
What your donation makes possible
The tangible costs Dove House carries for survivors run to $114,059 a year: $56,069 for food and shelter supplies, $30,000 for hotel stays and crisis needs, $28,000 for therapy. That excludes salaries, utilities, insurance and furnishings.
Your gift goes straight into that list, which helps survivors leave with more safety, more knowledge of local resources, more hope, more comfort asking for help, and more confidence in their own decisions.
