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The Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley received a $10,000 award from the Virginia Family and Children’s Trust to help fund its 24-hour Crisis Hotline operations.
The Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for crisis intervention and information related to domestic and sexual violence. The Hotline receives about 1,300 calls per year.
The Women’s Resource Center provides emergency services, transitional services, counseling and legal advocacy for victims of domestic and sexual violence. It also has a comprehensive education program that provides awareness, education and trainings across the New River Valley to school-aged children and allied professionals. It coordinates community response teams and provides leadership on a state level for services to victims.
The Hotline is primarily staffed by volunteers who are supervised by a volunteer coordinator. The volunteer coordinator provides three 50-hour volunteer trainings per year to prepare volunteers for Hotline work. The training includes many role-play scenarios to help volunteers practice how to talk to someone in crisis. Callers’ inquiries range from simple to life-threatening situations where a person is in imminent danger. The FACT grant will support the salary of the volunteer coordinator.
The Women’s Resource Center is grateful for the support of the FACT program. The FACT program is primarily funded through sales of Kids First license plates, but it also accepts donations. FACT provides support and development for the prevention and treatment of family violence in Virginia. This includes child abuse and neglect, domestic and sexual violence, elder abuse and neglect, dating violence and suicide.
FACT distributes funds to local communities for family violence prevention, treatment and public awareness throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is governed by a board of trustees appointed by the governor. The Virginia Department of Social Services provides staff support and technical assistance to the FACT Board. The Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley, a non-profit, human service organization, has been providing hope and help to victims of domestic and sexual violence for the last 30 years. The Women’s Resource Center, the oldest in Virginia, provided programs and services to 3,340 children and adults in Radford and Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties last year. It also serves New River Valley Community College, Radford University and Virginia Tech campuses. Its mission is to create a community free of domestic violence and sexual assault through services, support and education.
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