This is what they say they are all аbout:
Envision a community free of rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence.
SafePlace exists to end sexual and domestic violence through safety, healing, prevention and social change.
Safety
We do this through our emergency shelter, 24-hour hotline, hospital accompaniment programs and legal services.
Healing
We do this with extensive counseling services for children, teens and adults as well as providing transitional housing, advocacy and life skills training to give people the resources and skills to stay safe.
Prevention
Our disability services, school-based services and community education work are all focused on preventing violence and promoting safe and healthy relationships.
Social Change
Working with others, we promote alternatives to the attitudes, behaviors and policies that perpetuate the acceptance of interpersonal violence, especially violence against women.
And this what they claim:
Events raise money to support SafePlace programs and services.
They also raise awareness of the issues surrounding sexual and domestic violence by addressing the need for community involvement.
And this is what happened to me in 2003
I was one last incident away from ending a toxic relationship and still had the bruises and scratches of the previous night's disagreement. I found my way to the nearby big city and I made another break for it.
I made it to a telephone and I called Safe Place on a toll-free number and they said they would send a taxi cab out to get me and THEY DID! They paid for it. I was rather hungry, not having eatern for about a day and a half.
The driver seemed rather disappointed that it was only me with NO children!
I was only able to get out with the clothes on my back and I got a ride to the old Safe Place location in Austin, TX.inside were women with children and I had none and some of the children had colds and viruses and things that children have. I did not see any food and I was so hungry, I was shaking!
The women were mainly African American and overwhelmingly Hispanic and they seemed so sad I wanted desparately wanted to help and began to feel rather guilty that I came there in the first place and possibly taking up space that some woman and her kids could have instead. The place also seemed to be very low on food and I wondered what the hell did I have in common with these mothers and their children and what I could do to help them.
Apparently one of the caseworker people had thought the same thing because she kept staring at me like a Ku Klux Klan member would look at an African American who had crashed a Klanvocation Bar BQ. Maybe I was a Social Experiment gone so terribly wrong so she loaded me up in her yuppie Volvo and took me to a location of my choice which happened to be in front of an associate's house and she unceremoniously dumped me out. I am scared to go home but the homeless drugheads, alcoholics, predators and others scared me more.instead of the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, my choice was an early death and possibly sexual assault on the street under a bridge OR an occasional drunken beating and a lot of psychological and emotional abuse.
Since I had nowhere else to go, I had to go back home and after the next incident, it was over and he was gone. For good.
I saw an ad for a caseworker with SafePlace a few years later and thought that I would apply until I saw the last sentence provisio.
" Persons with disabilities, people of color and bilingual
English/Spanish speakers encouraged to apply."
That's when I finally understood —for the first time— why I was not wanted or welcome there in the first place.
Good night, Austin, Texas.
Good night, Williamson County, Texas.
I still have nightmares but I think it is better here.
I would like to remind these co-called women's services that if a woman has anyplace else to go, she will not come to you! Also, that women who do not have children need assistance too.
Maybe, just maybe, things have changed in 2007!
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