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Shelter raises funds from old cell phones

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Battered women in Fayette County soon will have a safe alternative to escape an abusive relationship, thanks to the work of a subsidiary of the Fayetteville-based Promise Place.

Fund-raising efforts now are underway to open a battered women’s shelter, which will serve the entire Griffin Judicial Circuit, said Vanessa Mottley, the project coordinator for the P.L.U.S. Project, an acronym for Pike, Lamar, Upson and Spalding counties, the other counties the agency serves.

P.L.U.S. Project needs to raise more than $200,000 to open the domestic violence shelter. To date, only a small portion has been collected, but the 32-year-old Mottley is hopeful the agency will find the money needed.

“We are looking for any volunteers that would like to raise money,” Mottley said. “The more volunteers, the better.”

Mottley, a Spalding County resident, added all donations are tax-deductible.

Although the shelter has not yet opened its door, P.L.U.S. Project, through Promise Place, previously called the Fayette County Council on Domestic Violence, is active in the community. The agency helps domestic violence victims file temporary restraining orders and it also provides emergency assistance such as supermarket vouchers, rent and utility deposits and transportation.

Mottley said the agency does this to remove the financial barrier that often prevents battered victims from leaving an abusive relationship.

Sonja Strickland is the director of Promise Place, which oversees the P.L.U.S. Project. Despite a high per-capita income, domestic violence is a significant problem in Fayette County, Strickland said.

In 2003, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department reported 179 incidents of domestic violence. Fayetteville Police Department reported 112 incidents. Peachtree City Police Department reported 356 incidents, and the Tyrone Police Department reported 21 incidents.

“It’s really a fallacy,” Strickland said of the misconception people with a high income bracket do not grapple with domestic violence. “Fayette County is home to many affluent successful professionals, and domestic violence is about control.”

Strickland said one way to reduce the problem is through education and awareness. Another way to combat the issue is by increasing the punishment for those who are convicted of domestic violence, she added.

“Right now, a domestic violence charge (for a first offender) is a simple battery charge, or a misdemeanor,” Strickland said. “If the charges were more severe, it would raise more awareness of it and help reduce it.”

There is no state-funded domestic violence shelter in the Griffin Judicial Circuit and she is working to change this. She wants people in Fayette County to know they have somewhere to turn.

“It’s very important for women to have a safe haven to go to,” she said.

Since the fund-raising efforts are in the beginning stages, “very little” of the $200,000 has been raised. So, Strickland is calling on the community to support her cell phone drive, which will benefit the shelter.

Residents can drop off their used cell phones at the Fayetteville Police Department, the Peachtree City Police Department and the two Starbucks locations in Peachtree City and Fayetteville.

“For each phone we turn in, we receive between $1 and $20,” Strickland said. “They don’t have to be working phones. We keep the better ones to reuse for clients in crisis.”