THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411190452
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
In a bold move, Samaritan House aims to buy an apartment building in Virginia Beach to shelter eight battered women and their families.
Backers must raise an initial $75,000 from the community. The total cost of buying and repairing the structure will be $400,000.
To celebrate its 10th birthday and start a fund drive, the nonprofit group will host a sampling of fine wines and food Monday at 6 p.m. at 501 City Grill on Birdneck Road.
Nouveau Night, it's called.
Samaritan House has 19 dwellings in Virginia Beach - six shelters and 13 transitional homes - housing 100 people. The apartment will house 25 more tenants. Counselors are among the 19 employees.
Similar groups in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake aid more than two dozen families.
``We turn away 12 families for every family we take in because of a lack of space,'' Director Ellen Ferber said Friday.
Nationwide, one of every five women experiences domestic violence at some point, she said.
Efforts to turn around lives of homeless and abused women and children became an interfaith mission among churches and synagogues. It drew business and civic leaders as an enlarging outreach program in Virginia Beach.
Ferber feels personally drawn to the cause: ``It's something I've always had in me, to work with struggling families. They have taught me so much. Their strength and courage in the face of great odds keep me with them.''
The eight new units will be transitional ones that help battered women and dependents for as long as a year and half in overcoming problems.
``Some 50 percent of those who come out of a shelter will be homeless again within a year unless they have ongoing support afterward,'' Ferber said.
With a year's aftercare, 85 percent succeed in living in an abuse-free, stable environment.
``Giving families that extra time and resources is absolutely critical. It's money well-spent, a good investment,'' Ferber said.
Samaritan House derives as much as 50 percent of its support from the community. Tenants pay 30 percent of their income. Other aid is from the United Way and local, state, and federal sources.
Food for Nouveau Night will be supplied by chefs of the Big Tomato and 501 City Grill. An official of Georges DuBoeuf International will discuss wines. David Petretto and Leanna will provide music. There will be numerous prizes.
Tickets - $40 per person, $70 per couple - are on sale at 501 City Grill (425-7195) or Samaritan House (430-2642).
Fifty years ago, few reports of domestic violence surfaced.
``It's always been there,'' Ferber said.
A case in point: The phrase ``rule of thumb,'' she said, is from an Old English law that a wife or child could be struck by a lash no wider than a thumb. by CNB