Restoration of Hope Speaks to Rotary

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Stuttgart is fortunate enough to have a women’s shelter in place to help those in domestic violence situations. Restoration of Hope was established in 1997 and has helped countless victims of domestic violence in the years since.

On Tuesday, October 6,  Christy Fortune, Director and Jackie Jones, Outreach Manager, spoke to the Stuttgart Rotary Club. Introduced by Rotarian and ROH Board Member Shelly Owens, the ladies gave the statistics over the last year for the Shelter. ROH is funded by donations, grants and their resale shop at 2nd and Main St. in Stuttgart.

The mission of the Restoration of Hope is to provide shelter and assistance to domestically abused women and children and to not just help them to survive, but to thrive. 

In the past year, Restoration of Hope has received 370 Hotline calls, provided 2,656 bed nights, served 42 clients, 96 outreach clients, provided 480 support groups, 339 parenting classes, 24 Court Advocacy hours, 2,565 Child Advocacy hours, 245 Medical Advocacy hours, held 1,426 face-to-face Crisis Interventions and 2,165 Case Managements. They provide all these services to the victims for free. They rely on the community and grants. Some of their assistance includes getting orders of protection, helping with housing applications, groceries and clothing.

They shared how this summer someone had donated a family pass to the John Cain Aquatic Park which enabled the clients and their children to enjoy time at the pool. They also received a new playground at the shelter from the Wm. Foundation which enables the children to play safely at the shelter and with their new screened in back patio, the moms can watch over them safely.

They are working on setting up an emergency fund to help pay for things they need in an emergency for their clients.

In recent years, their funding has been cut drastically and they would like to ask the community to help them continue to provide their services. They have put together partner packages for those who would like to help support their mission.

The resale store is a big part of their funding and they accept donations of seasonal clothes, and household items. In the past there has been an issue with people leaving the donations outside the store. Unfortunately, they end up getting picked through before they can get them into the store, so they ask to please drop items off during business hours. The hours are Monday through Wednesday 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

They service all over the state and currently have seven clients, and are on pause for more due to them currently having a high-risk client.

They have a current partner program to help with financing where you can donate a monthly gift of $25, $50, $100, $250 or $500 per month to help. They take cash, checks and cash app. Below is a QR code for their Cash App. All donations are tax deductible, as they are a 501(c)(3). You may scan the QR code to donate.

For more information, call the Hotline at - 870-672-4341 and ask for either Christy or Jackie.