On an acre of land in north Doug las County, in a neighborhood and on a street that I will not name, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on a place of last resort.
Call it a safe house. Or call it a shelter.
The heavily secured, 9,000-square-foot home is a haven for abused women who are desperate to rebuild their lives.
In mid-December, doors opened at the third incarnation of the Women’s Crisis & Family Outreach Center.
The nonprofit quickly outgrew its first space in Castle Rock, which opened with nine beds in 1991. It since has outgrown its 12-bed facility in Parker where it serves 160 women and children a year, but has to turn away just as many because of limited space.
The new shelter has 28 beds and is designed to serve about 350 clients a year who have been beaten, threatened, used and disrespected to the point of having to leave their homes.
“I think about what some of these people have gone through. If it were me, I’d curl up in a ball,” says Jennifer Walker, in her 10th year as executive director.
As she tells it, calls for help have spiked since the economy tanked in the fall of 2008. When more Coloradans started straining financially, levels of abuse escalated.
The average family seeking shelter is a mom with two small kids who has been abused by her boyfriend or husband. Their needs are medical, psychological, legal and financial. They require help finding jobs, housing and schools. They crave sleep. And safety. And someone to count on.
Women who call the crisis hotline for help are asked to meet a staffer at a public place to make sure they’re not being followed. Then they’re given directions to the shelter, whose location remains a well-kept secret to keep abusive partners away.
The place is sunny and clean. Kids have a yard to run in, toys to enjoy and a room for play therapy. Their moms have therapists of their own as well as phones to use, machines to wash and dry their laundry and private spaces to collect their thoughts.
Their average stay is about three weeks.
“The one thing we’re proudest of is that about 85 percent leave us headed to a long-term safe environment, like relatives, transitional housing, even homes of their own,” Walker says. “Our job here is to help them get back on their feet.”
The group has raised all but $300,000 for the new, $2.4 million shelter. It also runs an outreach center in Castle Rock and a satellite office in Kiowa.
Susan Greene: 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com
