VARO, Alee Shelter empower victims of family violence

They're non-profits aimed at helping women and their families pick up the pieces and start their lives over after falling victim to sexual assault or family violence. KUAM News shines light on their missions and how local companies are stepping up to help...and how you can, too.

Women and their children who've fallen victim to sexual assault and family violence often end up at the Alee Shelter. "A lot of women are starting from scratch. They leave home with nothing. Their partners, their perpetrators are usually the sole providers for their families, so these women are literally starting from ground zero," said Aurea Tagudin, a social worker at the Alee Women's Shelter.

She sees firsthand the struggles of the families who come through their doors and how long it takes them to pick up the pieces. "Our contract allows them to stay for 45 days, but we do allow for extensions. Realistically it takes about 4 to 5 months for a family to successfully transition out to safer housing placement," she explained.

Earlier this week, GTA and Ambros presented donations to the Alee Shelter and Victims Advocates Reaching Out. GTA provided two laptop computers and free high speed internet connectivity as well as $1,000. Ambros joined in on the worthy cause and donated cases of Huggies diapers, baby wipes, and infant formula

VARO Board President Judi Won Pat said, "I'll tell you that these donations will definitely go a long way - it will be for direct services. It doesn't go for salaries or rent or any of those things.  It'll go strictly to the victims."

The hope is that women can work on their resumes with the computers and Internet. Their children will also have access to a computer to work on their homework assignments. It's these often forgotten essentials that grant money just doesn't cover.

Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family violence's Cynthia Cabot grateful for GTA's continued partnership. In the past, GTA donated cell phones to keep victims and their advocates connected.

"We are certainly provided the lifelines to victims and survivors to their advocates as well as for ready access to advocates who can connect to their victims to continue the services that they need, so here, no doubt you've created the lifeline to the services, you're providing additional support that we cannot provide with many of our grants, like the items you see here," Cabot said.

While technology is often portrayed as the enemy - GTA Director of Marketing and Communications Kamia Dierking says it doesn't have to be. Dierking saying they want to empower victims with their services and keep them connected to the ones they love, adding, "It makes technology look like it's the culprit and its adding to the perpetrators to have power over us, but we also have to remember that technology is going to be here to stay. So instead of looking at is something negative, we need to figure out how to use it to empower our victims, also, just to keep them safe."

If you want to donate to any of these causes, Tagudin says to keep these things in mind: "A lot of people like to donate clothing, which is great we do accept a lot of donated clothing items, however for those come to us without any undergarments, we would ask that if they would like to donate gift cards to Ross or Kmart. Those would be greatly utilized. We could buy the appropriate sizing for the women and children who don't have underwear."