They're for Safe Homes and Purple Purses

       HOME

Just thinking of the word do you exhale, smile a bit and feel calmer? I do. Home (no matter how bustling or busy) is a place you are loved, surrounded by family, and where you can be relaxed and comfortable. But in a home where there's domestic violence, sometimes the home is loving and then can, in an instant, change to a place with fear. So the people living there are never fully relaxed. At Wellspring, survivors often describe, "always feeling like I'm walking on eggshells." Charles Wait Jr. knows that, "when violence enters the home, people need safe spaces... and Wellspring offers a safe place to go." Click here for more about why he supports Wellspring's work and the Purple Purse Challenge.

Belmonte Builders knows a thing or two about building homes from the foundation to the roof shingles. Lindsey Belmonte supports Wellspring's work because like Belmonte Builders we help create, "safe homes in safe communities".  Click here for more from Lindsey.

As a realtor, Karen Charbonneau of Miranda Realty certainly knows the importance of a home. But her reason for supporting Wellspring and the Purple Purse Challenge is far deeper and more personal. As a teenager, she saw children growing up in homes with domestic violence and she remembers, "the fear in the faces of children in homes with domestic violence." As she talks about it, it's clear that these years later she still  remembers those faces, and cares about this issue because she too wants a community where no child experiences that fear...especially at home. Click here for more from Karen.

When an individual or a family needs to leave home because it's not safe, Wellspring can help. Last year alone we provided 2,865 bed nights of safe slumber for adults and children fleeing abuse. Shelter isn't our only housing option though. Our NewView Housing program provides rent subsidized apartments throughout Saratoga County for domestic violence survivors. Last year we provided apartments for 31 families (with 45 children) so they could be safe (that's 17,000 nights of safe sleep in a violence-free home). In addition to the rent subsidy we provide weekly in-home support services to help the family remain safe, heal, and achieve employment of financial goals so they can remain abuse-free and be self-sufficient.