Marshfield's Domestic Abuse Organization in their New Home
Wednesday, September 19th, 2018 -- 8:04 AM
(WDLB) -Marshfield's domestic abuse organization is officially in its new home.The Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tuesday hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the P-D-C Orenda Center, now open in the former transitional homeless facility once operated by St. Vincent DePaul Outreach at 505 East Depot Street. The Personal Development Center began moving into the facility in early May, and Director Renee Schulz says P-D-C is now ready to open its doors to the public next Monday.
"All of our services that we have been providing in the community, all of our advocacy and support services, have all relocated over here. And we've been continuing those services every since the move. So, we didn't have any down time. We just moved from one location to the other. But then during this time, we've been working to get the shelter and the rest of the area ready for our residents to come."
The Personal Development Center provides services for victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. But as a non-residential program, P-D-C had always been faced with the challenge of ensuring immediate and short-term shelter while legal and long-term housing options could be explored??"and Schulz says the former Frederick Ozanam Transitional Shelter allows for enhanced and expanded programs and services to include safe temporary housing for victims.
"Safety is really the key of what we look for for those that will be coming in as residents here. This is to provide that safe place in those times where they're fleeing an unsafe home. We'll just see how many individuals come in and when, but we'll be officially able to accept individuals in on Monday."
Since P-D-C took control of the homeless facility this spring, Schulz says her group has been making renovations to the building. A community fundraising campaign assisted the agency with getting the new location ready with modifications. That was after the Marshfield Common Council turned down a funding request from the agency in March, which was asking for 80-thousand dollars to cover the costs associated with acquisition of the former homeless shelter, plus 20-thousand dollars a year in operational expenses. The new P-D-C Orenda Center has eight rooms, and a maximum capacity of 43 residents.
There are also services specific to the aging and disabled populations, and the youth population--topics like safe dating relationships and healthy friendships. P-D-C also has volunteers who respond to calls of sexual assault, and serve as advocates while those victims go through forensic exams and subsequent treatment. And there's also the supervised visitation and child exchange program. P-D-C is funded through grants and donations. To contribute, call the center at 715-384-2971. The Center recently celebrated 41 years as a private non-profit organization.
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