GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Wisconsin’s safer-at-home order didn’t make life safer for everyone.
“It’s harder for them to escape their partner, their abuser, at home with them,” Golden House executive director Cheeia Lo tells FOX 11.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month. The only domestic violence shelter in Brown County says last year its hotline received 5,300 calls… this year it’s already rang 8,100 times.
“There’s nothing quite as chilling as hearing somebody whispering over the phone to you that they only have a few minutes until he comes back,” lead advocate Jordin Gegare said. “Or, another time where ‘she’s in the other room I need to know what to do.'”
Lo tells FOX 11 to look out for signs of isolation, not just bruises.
“It could be your neighbor, it could be your co-worker, domestic violence does not discriminate. So it doesn’t matter what your skin color is, your economic status, your background, your education level — financial abuse is something that we’ve seen a huge increase in, there’s also emotional abuse, verbal abuse.”
On average, they’ve found it takes seven times for a victim to successfully leave an abusive relationship. But Golden House is always waiting.
“My goal is always to make that less,” Gegare said. “I do that by working directly with the client to address what it is that’s keeping them attached to the abuser.”
The shelter even houses victims of sex trafficking and sexual assault.
“People can’t come on camera because it is truly a matter of life and death,” Gegare said. She added that it takes years for clients to be ready to talk about what they’ve gone through.
“Whatever it means to keep you safe, to keep that person safe, I will do it. And every advocate here will do it, because that person’s life matters,” Gegare told FOX 11. “They shouldn’t have to spend a lifetime of survival, wondering whether or not they’re good enough to keep living. They should be able to live and grow and flourish as a person.”
The shelter’s executive director says Golden House has an operating budget of $1.6 million — 65% of that coming from grants and 35% from private donations and fundraisers.
Click here if you’d like to donate.
If you’re in an abusive relationship, call Golden House at 920-435-0100.
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