The Horizon Health Center Safe House will take no new women and children after December 1, and will close its doors on January 5. Linda, a refugee from a dangerous abuser in Chicago doesn’t know what she would have done if the door to safety and a normal life had been closed to her. Things had gotten so bad at home that she boarded a plane with just her little daughter and some clothes and flew west. Stranded in the 104 degree heat in Maricopa, with her abuser aware of her location, she sought the help of the town mayor. He helped her make call after call until Horizon Safe House picked up the phone. Having the means to transport people, Horizon was able to come and get her and put her up for a month in a clean cheerful house in the midst of those she now considers to be her second family.  They were also able to help her with finding day care for her daughter, and transportation to her first job. She now has an apartment, without much furniture, but thanks to the shelter and individual donations, she started out with towels and other necessities. Now she is seeking a better job and she has  been able to open her door to her little sister so that she will also have a place to live. Later, she hopes to have her mother come to live in the safe place that Horizon helped her to create. Linda was prepared to work once she had a refuge to operate from, but many do not.

 According to Loraine Woodie, the best part of her job this year as been helping the 27 women who have arrived terrified and destitute this year at the shelter. The worst part has been her worries about the future of many of the people she and other workers have helped. ”You just want to pick them up and take them with you, but you can’t. Thankfully, the Safe House has been more than just a place to hide, Carolyn Gillis and her staff have offered many additional services to families fleeing domestic violence. From the moment they arrive, women have been enveloped in a warm, loving, and educational environment.

Like mothers and aunties, Loraine Woodie, Cheryl Silvas and their colleagues, both listen and teach. Women may need to learn how to cook nutritious meals and how to care for their newborns and other children.  Most of the women fleeing violence arrive with children, and often they can’t look for guidance from their own relations, since they may also be in fear of the violent abusers.  Staff at the shelter have also helped women to get social security cards, and other identification necessary for using governmental services such as training programs to give them the skills to support themselves and their families. They have referred women and children to medical and psychological services. Importantly, they follow up on families after they leave to see how they are doing.

According to director,Carolyn Gillis all this will go away starting December fifth  unless new grants are found. Horizon and other shelters lost funding when state and federal agencies changed a program that had been set up specifically to aid rural areas. Now all shelters are equally able to apply, and grants that have been in effect for decades have not been renewed. Horizon first obtained their money  in 1997 and purchased the safe house as a community service. Horizon also matches 20% of the largest grant and provides benefits to the Shelter staff, although salaries have come  from the missing  grants.

Gillis has reached out to the San Carlos apache tribe and to local and federal legislators. She has gotten response from tribal officials and from Congressman O’Hallorhan’s office and from the office of state representative David Cooke. But so far nothing definite has shown up. People who need immediate help can call Horizon Human Services Gila County Safehome at 928-402-0648 for the next few weeks. They can also go to the  Arizona Coalition to end sexual and domestic Violence website, http://www.acesdv.org to contact places state-wide that are still open.