located in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

24 - Hour Hotline - 724.652.9036

 Survivor's  SUCCESS  StorIES

            "I always felt really safe at the Crisis Shelter.  I felt nothing would happen to us there.  The key cards (to unlock doors into and within the Shelter) made me feel safe.  I remember how I would take my brother and sister to play in the child care room - I wanted them to feel safe too.  I remember Miss Goldie and how caring she was but they also laid down the law there." (This young person just graduated high school and has been accepted to Temple University)

 "I encourage everyone to let others help.  There are people everywhere that want nothing more but the best for you and will stand by your side through the entire process.  Whether it’s friends, family, a church group or a wonderful agency like the Crisis Shelter, know that there are people who genuinely care about you and want to help." 

"Then, after a few days when I started to get used to my new home, staff members offered me services and took me around town.  They helped me do things such as file a PFA – a protection from abuse order, sign up for welfare and child support and even obtain a lawyer.  They sat with me in court for the PFA.  My children and I quickly began counseling and then I got a job.   Within several months, I was able to move into a house with the help of the Crisis Shelter through the housing department."

"Over the next two years I would have the chance to figure out what I needed to be watching for with the help of domestic violence groups and the opportunity to go back to school.  As soon as I entered the Transitional Housing program at the Crisis Shelter the process began.  I started applying for school and going to groups and counseling weekly.  In February of that year I was blessed with a beautiful girl.  When I came home from the hospital we were welcomed with open “hearts” and smiles.  They made us feel like family." 

            "I enrolled back in college and have been named to the Dean’s List each semester.  I am working toward a degree in Social Work, so that one day I can look into the teary eyes of a broken woman and tell her without hesitation that she can have the life she dreams about; she can live without fear; she can find the strength to do it, because I too, was once a teary-eyed, broken woman who found help at the Crisis Shelter."

              "I grew up in an abusive home as a child, but yet I missed all the obvious signs when it came to my relationships as a young adult.  Slowly, I began to participate in groups at the  Crisis Shelter and realized that everyone had their very own special story but we all had something in common.  We were all victims.  I wanted to break this vicious cycle!  I didn’t want my child to grow up in the same environment that I had.  I didn’t want to be in the same position ten or twenty years from now trying to put my life back together.   This new determination gave me a strive and I decided I needed to find a place to go back to school."

               "Through the counseling and support I received at the Crisis Shelter, I began to realize that I could build a new life for us.  The depression I had lived with throughout my marriage began to dissipate and I began to feel empowered and optimistic about the future.  I enrolled back in college and have been named to the Dean’s List each semester.  I am working toward a degree in Social Work, so that one day I can look into the teary eyes of a broken woman and tell her without hesitation that she can have the life she dreams about; she can live without fear; she can find the strength to do it, because I too, was once a teary-eyed, broken woman."