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In print | October 9, 2008

The Women’s Resource Center is kicking off Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a drive to collect household goods for the Women’s Safe-House of Delaware County. The Domestic Abuse Project, headed by Sophie Hagen ’10 and Amanda Morrison ’11, is organizing the drive.

Morrison explained that the safe-house constantly has to replenish the supply of household goods that it distributes to victims of domestic abuse. “The women come to the shelter with nothing, so when they leave they take silverware, blankets, cleaning supplies [and other] things they need,” she said. According to Morrison, the safe-house does not want to restrict access to these vital supplies, so it is constantly in need of additional materials.

The Domestic Abuse Project, working in conjunction with the safe-house, aims to alleviate the shortage of supplies. Its organizers are currently working to collect comforters, towels, sheets and other essential products. Donation boxes will be placed in various locations that draw high volumes of pedestrian traffic in the borough of Swarthmore.

Because the safe-house functions as a refuge for female victims of domestic abuse and their children, the location of the house cannot be disclosed. The shelter is located somewhere in Delaware County, but its staff cannot specify its address to ensure the safety of the women who live there. The shelter is open to all women for a maximum stay of thirty days.

According to Hagen, the safe-house provides “childcare, a kitchen, the chance to talk to other victims, clothes” and other necessary provisions. According to the Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County Web site, the shelter is designed to help women “become self-sufficient” and eventually “live free from abuse.”

Apart from providing housing for the women, the Project also offers counseling, a hotline, legal services, medical advice and educational resources. For low-income clients, the Project provides welfare advocacy and free emergency services.

Hagen, the founder of the Domestic Abuse Project at Swarthmore, began the project after sponsoring a discussion about domestic abuse during Domestic Abuse Awareness Month last year. The group’s first project was to establish the safe-house, which was fully functional within six months of the Project’s founding.

Hagen described the house as having a kitchen, a dining room and a communal living room. In addition, there are seven private rooms, some of which are in better condition than others. A group of female Swarthmore students visited the house at the end of last semester to help renovate some of those rooms. They first used spackling to fill the holes in the walls, then covered them with a fresh coat of paint.

At the time, a woman and her two children were living in one of the rooms that needed repainting. After Swarthmore’s Domestic Abuse Project repainted the room, its residents expressed their gratitude to the safe-house coordinator. Hagen said that she would also like to replace the curtains, and add plants and pictures in order to make the house more “cheery.”

Marie Rousseau ’12 commended the project for its involvement in communities with proximity to the Swarthmore campus. “I think it’s awesome that Swarthmore students are cooperating with a local organization to help victims of domestic abuse. It’s really great that the shelter is nearby [because] students can get so much more involved in the process. Plus, I think it’s more meaningful to address [the immediate] community’s needs … rather than reach out to people and places that aren’t as related to us,” Rousseau said.

Morrison said that the most meaningful aspect of collaborating with the safe-house has been the outpouring of support from the Swarthmore borough community. In particular, she commended Charles Devaney, owner of Swarthmore Hardware, who “donated almost all of our needed supplies for free.”

Associate Vice President of Facilities and Services Stu Hain and Director of Maintenance Ralph Thayer have both visited the safe-house to help prioritize the most essential renovations and produce estimates for supplies and contractors. According to Morrison, Bernard Devlin of Facilities and Services conducted a workshop to train the participating students in basic home improvement techniques. “[Devlin] met with the group in an empty house in the village and taught them how to paint, spackle and sand,” Morrison said.

Hagen said that she is interested in pursuing the development of a long-term relationship between the college and the safe-house, one in which Swarthmore will eventually take on the role of “a reliable resource that the safe-house can fall back on.”

Student volunteers said that the experience of helping the safe-house’s residents has been personally empowering as well as a source of practical life skills. “Sometimes it’s nice to just get paint all over yourself and to learn how to hang a clock or fix things in the future,” Hagen said.

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