Shelter

Remember that show, "This is Your Life"? I don't really remember it, but wasn't there a show where they brought out long lost friends, family members and colleagues from the person's past? Tonight was kind of like that for me, at least in regards to my work, which is inextricably a part of me.

Fourteen years ago I was a VISTA worker (Volunteers in Service to America) for a domestic/sexual violence program in Newport, Vermont. I quickly realized that the Northeast Kingdom really needed a shelter for battered women. I thought I would spend my year in VISTA making that happen. I was 24, full of hope and ideals. It didn't happen that year, or in the 14 years since, despite my wishes and hopes. Fast forward to 2009. Tonight we hosted a small reception for donors and community partners at our soon-to-open shelter for battered women; the first in the Northeast Kingdom. The shelter includes 8 crisis beds and 3 transitional apartments. It is an amazing facility and I didn't believe it would ever really happen until tonight. (An aside: It is strange to be thrilled and gratified by a shelter you are working to make unnecessary. Yet it is necessary, more necessary than ever, and I am grateful we can finally offer this crucial, basic support to survivors).

So here it is, finally, a shelter, an option to offer women when we are safety planning together. It is cause for celebration. But what really moved me about the reception tonight was the folks who attended. It was a "This is Your Life" of my work in the movement. Some of the committed and supportive attendees (in no particular order) included:

• The former coordinator of our state coalition, who coordinated the VISTAs in 1995 and therefore trained and mentored me extensively (she also organized a baby shower for me at the end of that year!)
• The advocate with whom I job-shared when my kids were little and I could only work part-time. We grew up in the work together for many years. I love her dearly.
• The former director of my organization who was the director when I volunteered on the hotline right after Harper was born. Another important mentor.
• The victim advocate from the prosecutor's office where I worked more than 10 years ago as part of a special domestic violence unit. She taught me everything about the criminal system, the courts, the community and lots about how to fight and speak up for survivors.
• A past director of an anti-poverty organization, which oversaw that first DV program for which I worked as a VISTA. Always a smart and thoughtful activist who is now on my organization's board.
• Our shelter coordinator, a strong and capable woman who I have known for almost a decade. We have worked side by side for years and I am so proud of her as she embarks on this new project with her whole self, heart and soul.
• Our Executive Director, who I think of as the conductor of a symphony waving a baton. Or is that a magic wand? She's also one of my best friends.
• My newest colleague, co-worker and comrade from the north who impresses me daily with her dedication, intelligence and advocacy skills. At least once a week I come home and tell my family how great she is.
• Our statewide coalition representative, who serves as an expert and support person for our work locally; someone I turn to when no one else has an answer to my question. She's just brilliant.
• So many more community people who have supported our work for longer than I've been doing the work. I'm so grateful for their continued, solid, persistent presence.
• My dad. What can I or do I even need to say about the profundity of the lovely fact of his presence on this special day?

What a list! But on the eve of the opening of our shelter (finally!) to have all of these people in the room filled my heart with love and gratitude. And really, the people who attended tonight were just a small representation of the many comrades I have the good fortune of knowing personally in this movement. Way too many to list here. It's nice to know we're not alone. It's good to have the shelter of community.