(Community Matters 187) How One Night Of Giving Helps Keep the Lights On at S.A.F.E. Place

$4,800 a day. That’s the operating reality behind a shelter that offers free, life-saving services to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. We’re joined by Ellen Lassiter Collier from S.A.F.E. Place in Battle Creek to put real numbers and real stories behind what “support” means in Calhoun County, from keeping the lights on to staffing an emergency shelter that’s often at or over capacity.

The Restoring Hope Gala, the 19th annual dinner and auction supporting S.A.F.E. Place takes place on Friday, May 15 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Battle Creek at 5:00 PM. Ellen talks about an event like this is important for their fundraising to provide critical services for those in need, as well as some exciting expansions coming through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. 

Episode Resources

S.A.F.E. Place Shelter Website

Follow S.A.F.E. Place Shelter on Facebook 

ABOUT COMMUNITY MATTERS
Former WBCK Morning Show host Richard Piet (2014-2017) returns to host Community Matters, an interview program focused on community leaders and newsmakers in and around Battle Creek. Community Matters is heard Saturdays, 8:00 AM Eastern on WBCK-FM (95.3) and anytime at battlecreekpodcast.com.

Community Matters is sponsored by Lakeview Ford Lincoln and produced by Livemic Communications.

Transcript

Welcome And Where To Listen

Richard Piet 0:02

Richard Pyot here, you're there. We're glad we're together here for Community Matters. This is a radio visit at 95.3 FM on Saturdays in the 8 a.m. hour. Thanks for being here for that. Or maybe you click on an episode at Battle Creek Podcast.com. Thank you for that. That's any time available. Also, all you have to do is search Community Matters Calhoun County, where you get podcasts, and you can follow us there, and you'll get a little alert when our discussions come available.

Restoring Hope Gala Preview

Richard Piet 0:36

It is just about time for the annual event, actually the 19th annual dinner and auction in support of Safe Place. The name is the Restoring Hope Gala. And uh that uh gives you a little hope, doesn't it? Hearing that name. Here to talk about that, Ellen Lassiter Collier, back with us from Safe Place. Hello, Ellen.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hello. Thanks for having me back.

Richard Piet 1:04

Well, thank you. This is uh coming up Friday the 15th, downtown at the Double Tree. What's your point of view as you reach this annual event that means so much to you? And we'll talk about how this supports you. But uh, how's the year been as you look back all the way maybe to last spring?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

We're very excited to be once again upon our largest signature fundraising event, uh Restoring Hope Gala, is um very much a traditional fundraiser. We have a dinner, um, but we also like to have a good time. So it also features a silent auction. We have over a hundred packages that folks can bid on online, whether you're with us or not, you can participate in the bidding by following along on our event site, as well as a handful of packages that we put up for live auctions. So we have an auctioneer with us who facilitates that. We we generally have a good time. We have Jessica Harthorn from Channel 3 back again as our host this year. And the other thing we do at this event is we give out four awards and recognition of outstanding volunteers, community partners, folks who really either contribute to the work that we're doing or lift up our mission out in the community. So we recognize some really excellent work um as part of the event as well.

What The Fundraiser Pays For

Richard Piet 2:22

All right. And uh this supports safe place significantly. You said signature event. So I presume that means this is the big push.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

It is. I mean, we certainly do other opportunities for fundraising and bringing in additional revenue throughout the year, but this one event raises over $100,000 for us. Oh which, yes, is very we're very lucky to have such a generous community of supporters who help us raise that money in one day. I mean, there's lots of work that goes into it ahead of time, but ultimately for one event. And it supports primarily our operations for the facility and the shelter. So we certainly have a number of grants that support all of our programming because all of our services are offered for free, but that doesn't cover everything. It does cost about $4,800 to operate our organization a day. So this type of unrestricted money from fundraising and from contributions allows us to cover expenses that aren't covered by those grants.

Richard Piet 3:25

$4,800 a day.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yes.

Richard Piet 3:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yes. And those are things that, yes, that folks certainly think about as far as supplies and staffing, but also things that you may not readily think about, like paying the light bill or your or all of our insurances or fixing um a maintenance in the building. There's lots of things that come with operating your organization, especially when all of our services, like I said, are offered for free. So we do generate all of our revenue through grants and the support of our community.

Richard Piet 3:58

And grateful for it, uh, certainly. But yes, these are the things that uh are not terribly exciting, but you got to pay for them. The lights and the internet and all of those things that you have to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

We cannot safely house folks here in our emergency shelter without being able to keep the heat and the lights on. They are pretty critical.

Richard Piet 4:18

Remind

Who Safe Place Serves

Richard Piet 4:19

us who's there. Who are you helping?

SPEAKER_00 4:21

We serve survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking and their children, which means that we are providing, most folks know us as our emergency shelter, which is really a core part of what we do, providing that emergency safety need for folks who are either in danger or have a level of fear where they need to be in a safe location. The shelter itself has 60 beds currently in 21 rooms. So we can have a quite a number of folks here. And I actually looked at our number of current clients we have right now, and it is actually at 68. And you might ask me, Ellen, how do you have more people than you have beds? Well, we can add in pack and plays and toddler beds for the littlest of residents, which can potentially put us over the number of total beds that we have. We do see over 600 people stay in the shelter each year, and they tend to be half adults and half children. So those are usually mothers, not always, sometimes fathers, but usually moms who are fleeing a violent and unsafe situation with their children and staying with us. The range of stay varies. It can be a couple of days while they work some things out with family or friends, or it can be an extended period of time. And I also took a look at what our average length of stay is right now over the last six months. And it's been 64 days. So, on average, folks are staying with us for about two months while we help them develop a plan for what's next. We are we are a temporary emergency shelter. So our goal is to work with folks to identify what are barriers to your own safe and stable housing and helping them work through that. And that could be a whole variety of things.

Safety Planning After Shelter

Richard Piet 6:12

I imagine some folks listening, their experience with this kind of a situation is that which is dramatized on television or something. And so maybe that's where this question comes from. But do you have some kind of built-in protocol to assure that when they leave they're safe? Because what we always see dramatized is there's a level of danger if they're in this kind of a situation. Maybe it's not that dramatic, uh at least some of the time. But I'm I'm wondering about that. You must concern yourself with uh what happens after those 64 days.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Absolutely. We do our best, and we also treat all of the adults who come here as adults that can ultimately make their own decision. So sometimes we have folks who, after they stay with us, they have moved on to their own housing, whether that's because they've been able to obtain an apartment on their own or because we have helped. We do have two housing programs that we're very grateful to have, one of which helps us pay for first month's rent and security deposit to get folks over that initial kind of big check that they might need to write. And then we also have another housing program that where we can pay for that individual's housing for up to two years. So those are two options that folks can engage with us in order to support their next residence. Sometimes folks, after they leave with us or while they're with us, have identified I have family and friends, and if I can just get to where they are, they will help me out from here. And that's great. We love when people have systems of support that they can rely on. And that might mean that we help with a bus ticket or a train ticket or a lift ride somewhere else where people will be safe. The other situation is sometimes people are staying with us and they leave and we don't know where they've gone. We don't hear from them. We hope for the best, um, but we really don't know. And sometimes, unfortunately, we do know that individuals go back to their abuser.

Richard Piet 8:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Because the barriers are can be so overwhelming, and there may not be a lot of hope at that time. Like I said, we do our best, but there may not be a lot of hope that somebody can make it on their own. So when barriers are really complex, finances are usually in play, children are usually um a factor that sometimes people decide that that is what's best for them in that moment, and that is a reality of what we do.

Richard Piet 8:48

How do you handle that? I mean, you you must say to them something about the danger of that situation, and ultimately it's their decision, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

It is. It is their decision. Like I said, these are adults that are staying with us. We walk through all options with them. Can we help you with housing? Can we get you someplace else? Can we help with employment? What are transportation? What are your barriers to being able to be successful on your own? And we'll try to check each one of them off alongside that person. And then it can be, like I said, very challenging when we do hear that someone is going to go back to that home. And what we do at the very least is come up with a safety plan with that person. Okay. We've we've recognized if they're willing to engage in the conversation with us, with which most people are, or recognize that this is your choice. We would love to be able to support you in doing something else, but ultimately you're making decisions on your own. How can we keep you as safe as possible? And so that might look like where are you keeping important documents, car keys, um, what to do if you believe that there's weapons in the home, who's your safest person that you can call in an emergency, and doing other conversations around keeping them as safe as possible if they're gonna return.

Richard Piet 10:12

Yeah, this is uh uh the approach that you have to take, I presume. When you've met someone who's been in a situation like this and and they are are going back, boy, that's uh that's gotta be scary for for you to contemplate uh and your staff as well. And I presume, uh I don't mean to get maudlin here, but I presume there have been outcomes you didn't want that have eventuated as a result of that.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yes, unfortunately. That is a reality of what we do, is that uh domestic violence can absolutely escalate all the way to homicide. And we have seen that in our community. Uh, during my tenure here, I've been here almost seven years. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least eight domestic violence homicides that I've been here for. And sometimes it's not homicide, but it is extreme bodily harm. Yeah. Um, extreme harm to property, to pets, to loved ones. Um, all of those threats are very real. And certainly something that we see on a frequency that I uh I would love to not have to deal with.

unknown 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

But we have great partners with Battle Creek Police and the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office. We have an employee here who works directly with law enforcement, and they're helping to provide feedback on um ways to better respond to situations, ways to better work with the identified victim, how we might be able to intervene and keep people as safe as possible. And because of the rates of domestic violence in our community, I think I've shared with you before, we have the second highest per capita rate of domestic violence in Michigan. It is an overwhelming task, and we do our best.

Richard Piet 12:02

That stat hasn't changed, huh?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

It has not.

Richard Piet 12:04

So I gotta tell you, I sit on the board of the Humane Society, and I'm seeing firsthand now how folks there at the shelter end up with some feels for these pets, these animals. And

How Staff Avoid Burnout

Richard Piet 12:21

when they lose one, it affects them. And I'm seeing that about animals. I'm imagining what it's like for you and your staff when we're talking about humans here. How do you stay healthy here?

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Well, we have a great team here. We have uh quite a number of people that have been working here at Safe Place for over a decade. We have one employee who's been here for 30 years, someone who's coming up on 20 years. We have people who are incredibly dedicated and have been here and have been through it. So, one piece I think is certainly their guidance and wisdom. They've been here for other catastrophic events. They've seen some of the hardest things that have happened, and they can help support newer or younger staff in suggesting things that worked for them. We also have put in place over the last seven years quite a number of leave options for employees. We've become much more attuned to the need for things like family leave that didn't exist when I arrived. We even have a critical incident leave where if someone witnesses or has to deal with a critical incident in the shelter, things like administering Narcan or a violent act on the property or a client that someone had been working with who has had severe injuries or been involved in a homicide that they can take time off that doesn't have to come out of their vacation or their sick time. That's those things are there for the benefit and the health of the employee, not because that they have been there, responded, or worked with someone who has had something horrible happen. We also have a very generally relaxed workplace and schedule that's hopefully comes and is modeled by myself. That we do really hard work. And whether you're doing that at eight o'clock in the morning, usually doesn't matter. In fact, being available at eight o'clock at night can sometimes be much more beneficial to folks that uh that we're assisting. So as long as the work is getting done and staff are being responsible, which I have trust that they all are, uh they're able to make sure that adjust their schedule to their needs and their clients' needs. So we're very responsive in that way as well. And we do a lot of debriefing. We have a lot of supervisory one-on-one meetings, a lot of case team meetings where we're talking about things that have been challenging. So they're group decision making as well. So then it doesn't even necessarily come back on one person if we have an outcome that we would rather not.

Richard Piet 14:59

Yeah. So there's some emotional and mental health support built into that.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Absolutely. And the vast majority of the folks who work here, let's say we have 24 total employees, and probably 60 to 70% of them are licensed social workers or counselors. So we also have a lot of people here in the building and as part of our team who really know what they're doing when it comes to supporting individuals who are struggling. Um, now that doesn't mean that it is your colleagues' responsibility to support, provide your mental health therapy, but it might mean that in that moment, your colleague or a supervisor or myself or someone else can provide that immediate feedback and needs, and then making sure that person gets connected to long-term supports.

Richard Piet 15:43

And they probably band together and support each other anyway. Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

We are a very close team. We share a lot of information about um, you know, our families and our hobbies and all sorts of things. I think that all helps when we're genuinely invested in one another and our overall well-being.

Richard Piet 16:00

I bring all of this up to illustrate how folks, you all can support Safe Place in Battle Creek through the Restoring Hope Gala, which again is coming up soon, and we'll give you the details one more time before we go.

New Apartments And More Beds

Richard Piet 16:15

What's on the horizon, Alan? You're uh you're looking at some exciting things actually.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

We are. We received actually two years ago, we received uh a grant for just over a million dollars from Mishta, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, to build six new apartments on our property. And it's taken some time. We're in the one of the historic districts here, so to get those uh appropriate approvals, all the architectural plans, all the building permits, etc. Uh, but construction is starting this spring, late spring, early summer, sometime in the next three to four weeks on that project. And we couldn't be more excited. Uh, that will add it's six apartments, like I said, and it will add about 16 more beds across those apartments. It's two two-bedroom and four studio apartments. And that will actually make us then at 76 beds, which is the largest shelter in Michigan. And we are thrilled for that. I mean, we're oh, like I said, we got 60 beds, we have 68 people here today. So we're pretty consistently at or over capacity to begin with. So it will give us more space in general to keep people safe. And the other really wonderful piece about that project is they are apartment style. And our current shelter for folks who have never had an opportunity to come tour is shared living space. It's congregate living. So folks have their own room, beds, dressers, TV, but it's shared kitchen, dining room, and restrooms, which serves its purpose and can also not be the most trauma-informed for people who are going through an extreme crisis. The other thing is we often see individuals, particularly survivors of human trafficking, who need longer stays, even longer than those 64 days that we're averaging right now. And they can certainly stay in the current building for as long as they need, but these apartments will give them a much more comfortable and autonomous place to be with us for a longer period of time. So we're very excited. It's going to open up a lot more opportunity to serve even more people in a way that is the most trauma-informed that we can be. And we are just on pins and needles to finally get that started.

Richard Piet 18:45

Well, uh, so you will be judicious, I presume, in determining who will be inhabiting those apartments. And uh you're basing that on the situations they find themselves in.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Absolutely. Folks, we'll go through our normal assessment process to gain access to the shelter. It's that that maybe some made that sound a little bit more complicated than it is. It's questions over the phone to make sure that folks that living that coming to stay with us is going to be the best fit for them. And then once they arrive and our survivor advocates, essentially case managers, have conversations. They would determine whether somebody, it kind of seems like they might need a longer stay. There's one family that comes to mind, it's been years ago, but mom showed up and with seven children. And trying to find, she had employment, which was wonderful, but trying to find an affordable and safe housing option for them took a very long time. I think it took almost six months, and she stayed with us that whole time. And having one of those apartments just would have made their stay here much more comfortable. So situations like that.

Richard Piet 19:57

Yeah, there's an example exactly of uh how this will help. So that was a Mishta infusion of cash.

Grants And The Funding Cliff

Richard Piet 20:05

You talked about grants. How's that situation? Is it easier, harder, the same? What's happening with money?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Oh, that's a big question. Right now, we are very lucky to have maintained pretty stable funding over the last, I'll say, two years. We did have some grants that sunseted, which means like an intentional end back in September because they were COVID-era grants. So we knew that was coming. We've planned appropriately. We've been able to bring in additional revenue through private grant making as well as increased donor contributions. So this year it looks fine. We do have on the horizon coming in October a reduction nationally in the Victims of Crime Act fund. And that will impact all service aid victim service providers across the country. Some states have been able to manage that reduction in different ways. So there's minimal impacts to service agencies. Michigan has not yet come up with a solution. So we are being told to prepare for about a 20% reduction in that largest grant. Oh boy. So for us, that looks like about $75,000 annually. So that is our biggest struggle right now, is how we will be able to backfill those funds on a consistent basis, uh, you know, year over year, sustain being able to do that so we can maintain our current level of services. Because if we're not able to find that additional revenue, unfortunately, that means that we our services reduce in some way, shape, or form. And we'll figure that out before we get to October 1st, exactly what that looks like. But it is not a positive for SafeLace and for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking in our community. We need to be expensive. Expanding and hiring additional staff and offering more services based on the numbers that we're seeing in our community, not reducing. And right now that looks like what we do have on the horizon.

Richard Piet 22:12

You said that after these apartments go in, Safe Place will be the largest shelter in Michigan. I'm struck by that.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Sure.

Richard Piet 22:22

Uh because I think it's easy to presume that where there's more population, there's bigger shelters like Detroit, Grand Rapids. Not the case.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Well, what you might see, or what you do see in those communities, is is multiple shelters. So like in Grand Rapids, I think that they have three different organizations that serve Kent County. So combined in the county, there's going to be more bed space than what we'll have. But just looking at one singular organization and shelter, we would have the most number of beds.

Richard Piet 22:56

Duly noted. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. In uh in larger populations, it takes three safe places or 10 of them to uh make it work, which uh, you know, if you linger on that too long, it it uh it hurts. But you really can take a moment and turn back and look at the work being done by Safe Place and and feel good about that as well. And so there is a reward in there for all of you, I presume. And as you pointed out, somebody there 20 years, somebody there 30 years, they're getting a reward from that.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

There's a core group of us that that I don't know if it's I hope it's not joking, but talk about being lifers here because staffers are so committed to the mission and serving the people that truly need it in our community. And I think that's a really beautiful thing. Of course, you know, things happen that might not work out for everybody, but to even hear our dedicated folks saying that really makes me very proud of not only the level of work that we provide, but who's providing it. These folks are so committed to our mission and doing what is in the best interest of survivors that they're already thinking about doing that until they retire.

Richard Piet 24:11

And those are special people folks uh in your orbit. Yeah. All right. So

How To Attend Or Bid Online

Richard Piet 24:17

Restoring Hope Gala is your way to support everything we've just talked about at Safe Place. The 19th annual dinner and auction is coming up soon. When and where? It's not too late to be a part of it, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Absolutely not. We are hosting our event on May 15th at the Double Tree downtown. We would love to have folks there. Tickets are still available, although running a little slim. Uh, we're very lucky to, like I said, and just in general, have a lot of support and a lot of people come out and celebrate with us at that event. You can find all the information on our website, safeplace shelter.org. I know you'll put that in the in the show notes or on our social media sites. We would love to have you check us out there. We post a lot of information about domestic violence and human trafficking in general, what our team is up to, as well as, of course, ways to support.

Richard Piet 25:06

And if you can't make it, you can still bid, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

You can absolutely check out that check out our website. You can see the catalog of auction packages is already up. So you can kind of get a sneak peek of what you might be interested in, and you can still bid even if you can't join us.

Richard Piet 25:22

Safeplace shelter.org is it. The details are there, and we will put it in the show notes at battlecreekpodcast.com. If you uh don't recall which site we're talking about, just remember that, and you can click through from this episode. Ellen, it's always enlightening and informative to hear what's happening at SafePlace and rewarding and heartening to know this is uh uh a resource for folks in very vulnerable situations in our community. So thank you and thank everybody there, will you?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

I will appreciate your support of the work that we do and certainly helping us get the word out to the broader community.

Richard Piet 26:01

Ellen Lassiter Collier, safe place here on Community Matters.