AMY PAULIN IN THE NEWS
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Agency to Highlight Fight Against Abuse
By Leah Rae [The Journal News]
The dimensions of domestic violence - both the continuing challenges and the newest strategies - are being highlighted this month in a series of vigils, talks and fundraisers.
The organization My Sister's Place is running ads on county buses with the message "No one has the right to abuse you." The 33-year-old advocacy and sheltering agency will have a ceremony Tuesday at the Mount Vernon Public Library with Rodney Reynolds, publisher of American Legacy magazine.
On Friday, the Northern Westchester Shelter will have an award luncheon featuring Lee Woodruff, who wrote a book about her family's struggle after her husband, journalist Bob Woodruff, was injured in Iraq. It's not a story about domestic violence, said shelter spokeswoman Andrea Naso Nord, but it describes the strength that families can have.
"That's a good message for us, because we have people coming to us thinking that it's all over and they have nowhere to go," she said.
The Northern Westchester Shelter is giving its Safe Haven Award on Oct. 24 to the Junior League of Northern Westchester, which founded the organization 28 years ago. Recently, the Junior League renovated the shelter, which accommodated 142 people last year. The shelter is also holding its 10th annual Teen Dating Abuse Symposium at Pace University, an event designed to help high school students talk to each other about abuse in relationships.
There were some important strides this year in efforts against domestic violence, Naso Nord said. Gov. David Paterson in July signed a bill that extends Family Court procedures to victims who are in an intimate relationship, though not related, to the abuser. It enables someone who has an intimate relationship with an abuser to seek a civil order of protection in Family Court, even if the victim is unrelated to the abuser. Before, criminal court was the only option in such relationships.
Last month, Paterson signed a bill providing reimbursement for sheltering undocumented immigrants. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, it makes all victims eligible for emergency residential services. The Northern Westchester Shelter said it has been providing such services at a loss - about $60,000 last year and $93,000 the year before.
"We were giving services because they need them," Naso Nord said. "You can't turn people away. But now New York State is going to cover it. We were very, very happy about that."
My Sister's Place will hold its fall luncheon Oct. 23 and a "cooking for a cause" event with Westchester teenagers Oct. 25 in New Rochelle. On Oct. 29, the agency will hold a shopping day and reception at On the One Boutique in Mount Kisco.
"While the fight to increase awareness of domestic violence goes on year-round, this series of events will help focus attention on the problem here in Westchester County," said Karen Cheeks-Lomax, MSP's executive director.