Genesis House, the regional shelter for the victims of domestic violence, marked its 40th anniversary Sunday with a come-and-go garden party in Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler.
It was a chance, says executive director Ang Braun, to mark the milestone and also thank area residents for their decades of unflagging support.
“We have so much community support,” she says, noting not every shelter is so lucky. “It is the significant difference between our agency and many of my colleagues’ agencies.
“It’s not even always the financial support or the donated goods that come through the door, but I have literally been brought to tears by people just calling and telling me a story or sharing the value of our work. Sometimes just knowing that it has made a difference for people makes a difference for us when we do the work.”
The South Central Committee on Family Violence Inc. was formed in the early ‘80s to address growing concerns about the lack of support for abused women and their children in the area.
“There was some discussion between the police, the RCMP, and, if I recall correctly, staff at Eden and MCC Family Services,” Braun shares, noting there were families in crisis, but not much in the way of aid. “They just had no idea how to support them.”
Concerned community members rallied together to address the matter, starting with launching a telephone crisis line manned by volunteers.
“And that crisis line was answered in people’s homes, if you can imagine,” Braun says.
A small house was repurposed a few years later to serve as a shelter.
“There was this need for shelters, but there wasn’t something ready-made,” Braun says. “So they bought a house, a three-bedroom bungalow, and they retrofitted it with special locks, special windows.
“But, honestly, inside they didn’t do a whole bunch,” she says, recalling her early years with the agency in the ‘90s working in that original building, which housed clients upstairs and offered counselling and support services from the basement. “I can remember we had shag green carpet, we had gold carpet, purple carpet. It was totally a house of the ‘70s.”
They were eventually able to build the current shelter to order.
“We were one of the first purpose-built shelters, so we had input into the design, into where it was going to be placed,” shares Braun.
Looking back on the past four decades of service, Braun says the Genesis House staff have a lot to be proud of.
“We realize we are a small shelter in a big world, but I think our team does a really good job of taking care of the person in front of them right now in the moment,” she says. “The service that each person needs won’t be the same, but we try to provide what you need versus what the next person might need.
“One of the biggest things that we offer that might seem fairly simple is we offer somebody to listen and believe you. We validate what has happened to you. A lot of times, that can be absent. People will try to make it seem like it’s not as bad as you’re making it sound or maybe ask what did you do to bring it on. That’s not a position that we will take.
“We offer, first and foremost, that we believe you and we’ll support you, whatever you decide.”
That includes providing a safe space for a woman and her children, counselling, and, if needed, ongoing support as she attempts to leave her abuser.
But it also means being there for a woman who decides to return to the person who hurt them.
“We are not judging people,” Braun stresses. “If they need to go back and give that relationship another try because they believe change is possible … you have to let them make their decisions and just be there for them.
“We have no vested interest in the outcome,” she notes. “Sometimes with family and friends and in-laws, everyone feels like they should have a say because people really want that relationship to work out. But if there’s violence or abuse, the person choosing that behaviour has to make the decision to stop, otherwise this cannot be a healthy relationship.”
Braun lauds staff as well for leaning on each other in what can be a difficult job, walking alongside women dealing with pain, fear, and uncertainty.
“One thing we really do well is take care of each other, too,” she says. “And if we are not taking care of ourselves, one of our colleagues will call us out. That part is really important, that strength of the team.”
Braun estimates they’ve had over 2,000 women find safe haven at the shelter through the years, and about 2,600 children.
“That would add up to about 56,000 bed nights,” she says, adding “that’s just residential programming. We have lots of non-residential programming and group programming that I haven’t even counted into those numbers.”
Planning for the future
While the current shelter continues to serve Genesis House well when it comes to providing emergency housing, longer-term housing for woman looking to make a fresh start remains a challenge.
“Some of the challenges we’ve had over the years have remained, like finding child care, finding transportation to move around our super huge rural area,” Braun says. “But housing has become the biggest—it always has been in the top three, but it is now the biggest challenge that is faced by the women that we are serving.”
Leaving an abusive relationship is difficult enough without having no place to go. The shelter has for years had one transitional, “second stage” house to offer clients, but more are needed.
“It’s not statistically significant because it’s just one house, but the women that have lived in that house and been closely connected to our programs have not most often found themselves back in a dangerous relationship,” Braun shares.
The shelter is determined to give more women that chance. They’re currently in the planning stages for a project that will provide additional second-stage housing in their service area.
“We’re actively working on making that happen … we have the need and we’re in a good position to start that conversation,” Braun says, explaining they intend to release plans—including fundraising goals—in the months ahead.
This summer will also see Genesis House release a series of videos on its social media feeds sharing stories from past clients, shelter staff, board members, and supportive community members.
