For 45 years, the Alliance Area Domestic Violence Shelter has helped survivors

ALLIANCE ‒ The Alliance Area Domestic Violence Shelter has been a refuge for survivors of abuse and cruelty for 45 years.

The nonprofit is marking the milestone with its annual Hope for Healing Auction at 5 p.m. May 4 at Courtney's Banquet Center.

The cost is a $65 donation per person, and though the deadline to RSVP has passed, organizers said those interested can still buy tickets.

Christy McNamara, a board member, said the fundraising event is extremely important for the shelter's operations.

"It's for a great cause, taking care of people," she said.

In 2023, 103 people stayed at the shelter for different reasons

The Alliance shelter helps survivors of verbal, emotional, financial, sexual and physical abuse ‒ men, women and children ‒ with education, resources, transitional support services and 90-day emergency shelter at its 3,300-square-foot house.

It is separate from the Domestic Violence Project, Inc., in Canton. But the two agencies share the same mission and collaborate frequently.

In Alliance, the shelter has seven apartments for individuals or families to stay temporarily. It currently is full.

Kristina Drummer, a former rape counselor at COMPASS and former director of Coleman Health Services, has been the shelter's executive director since 2022. She said 103 people ‒ including children ‒ stayed at the shelter for different reasons, spending a total of 5,327 nights.

Most of the clients were women and children, but it took in three men.

"It doesn't matter your gender," Drummer said, "No one has the right to treat you, talk to you or hit you in those ways."

By comparison, she said the number of people staying at the facility was down from 2022, but the number of nights increased. That's because, Drummer said, the city's lack of affordable housing has extended some clients' stay at the short-term home. It has become more difficult to find clients a place to live.

"They come here and a lot of times they're starting completely over," Drummer said. "They're trying to find a job a lot of times. It's just hard, so we're not able to get people housed quickly anymore, and it means they're here longer, which means we can't turnover as quickly as we used to."

She also expressed concern that the city's plans to regulate landlords, and the backlash from it, could make the situation worse. She expects landlords will raise monthly rents to offset any expenses associated with any new regulations. The city's plans have not been finalized or approved.

"I don't know what the fallout is going to be," Drummer said.

The shelter is staffed 24/7, and is a phone call away

The shelter − which opened in 1979 and has been in its current location since 1981 − has its own executive board and a staff of 11 specialists. Drummer said the shelter is staffed 24 hours, seven days a week, all year. There are different ways to contact them.

The phone number is 330-823-7223, and its email address is aadvs@neo.rr.com. The national hotline is 800-799-7233.

The shelter also has a website with online chat sessions, and a Facebook page.

Drummer said domestic violence is not an anger issue. It's a power and control issue.

"I'm going to do what I want to do and I don't care how that impacts you or affects you," she said, while stressing domestic violence can become generational, as children witness the violence. "So you're growing up in a household that you think this is the norm. That it's normal to slap someone across the face or push them down."

Hannah Schmid, a Kent State graduate, is the shelter's new community engagement specialist. She has been on staff since January.

"I've seen a lot of things that I would have never noticed until I came here. I felt like I didn't know a lot about domestic violence until I worked here," she said. "I really like working with the clients and their children and seeing how they can grow through the shelter."

Drummer added: "It's devastating to see what humans can do to each other. But, on the flip side, it's amazing to see when you have a caring person in your corner, kind of what Hannah said, and how that hope and growth can come back to that person."

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance Area Domestic Violence Shelter celebrates 45 years