(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Reach Farther
Written By: Jenny King | Issue: 2017/07 - July | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography
Cindy Trevathan, a long-time volunteer for REACH of Macon County, would like to see a larger presence in Highlands.
While the shelter and its offices are located in Franklin, REACH serves all of Macon County and now, Jackson County.
Her involvement began when she was asked to sit on the board so Highlands could be represented. Eight years later, she’s still an active board member and passionate about what REACH does for those clients in need of the many resources REACH provides.
REACH stands for Resources, Education, Assistance, Counseling, and Housing. They offer 24-hour free confidential help and have a new shelter, which opened in 2016. The VanDrake Shelter can house 25 people in private suites where families are able to have their own space.
“It’s been wonderful to see how we’ve grown,” says Trevathan. “I’ve watched how it has evolved and seen how the organization has grown stronger. When you get that reinforcement that you’re making a difference, it makes you look towards the next step.”
The domestic violence statistics are sobering and apply to people of every socioeconomic background. One of the biggest areas of effort for REACH is to educate people of all ages as to what constitutes domestic violence. The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that’s used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.
Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.
By spending time at the shelter, Trevathan has witnessed first-hand the effects of domestic violence. She has seen young mothers and children who have nowhere to go and single women who have been abandoned after 40 years of marriage.
“Where do these families go if there is no shelter?” she wonders.
If you think you or someone you know may need their services, or for more information, visit ReachofMaconCounty.org, call (828) 369-5544 in Macon County or (828) 586-8969 in Jackson County.
