Liberty House continues mission in Lee County

LEESBURG — Although Liberty House does not maintain a shelter in Lee County, the domestic violence shelter and advocacy organization still provides resources in what is one of the 17 counties it serves.

During a recent meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners, Liberty House Executive Director Silke Deeley gave an overview of the types of services the organization provides to Lee County residents and provided commissioners with an update on the impact Liberty House had on county residents in 2016.

Deeley began by stating that the organization had seen an uptick in Lee County-based calls to its 24-hour crisis hotline last year, which led to an increase in the number of people serviced and the number of man-hours dedicated to county citizens.

“For Lee County, we received 250 crisis calls from this community, which is considerably higher than it has been,” explained Deeley. “And I’m not sure what to attribute that to, other than there’s a greater awareness and people are actually reaching out for service. And that’s a good thing. That means we’re actually doing our job.”

That job consisted of Liberty House advocates and volunteers providing 10,934 man-hours in the form of 1,562 contacts with those individuals that spent time in the Liberty House shelter in Albany, and an additional 228 man-hours through 76 contacts with others who received outreach services through Liberty House.

“We have sheltered (in 2016) seven persons, two adults and five children, for a total of 781 bed nights,” said Deeley. “When we count bed nights, it’s for every person that stays in a bed. Those are counted for the length of time that they are there.”

Additionally, Deeley said, the organization provided various outreach services, which include judicial advocacy, petition assistance, lawyer referrals, court accompaniment, court communication, prosecution advocacy, police advocacy, parole advocacy, compensation claims, social services advocacy, child protective services advocacy, safety planning, counseling, pet placement, and information about several other types of services, to six adults and 13 children last year.

The Liberty House director put some of that data in perspective when addressing the commission by giving information about the cost of operating the shelter and about the volume of shelter requests the organization received during the previous year.

“During the stay with us, not only do they get fed, they get clothed, so the cost for us probably runs about $125 per person in the shelter when they’re with us,” Deeley said. “We have staff that are there around the clock.

“We are only able to house 20 at a time, although we have had more than 20 in the shelters, especially when there were infants. We put those in portable cribs. So there have been periods of time during this year when our numbers were up around 25 in the shelter for a period of time until we could move them on.”

Deeley also explained to commissioners that because the requests for shelter services were so great last year, there were many times that the organization was unable to provide space in its shelter for individuals.

“We had to refuse services to approximately 900 people that called,” said Deeley. “On 35 of those calls, we were full. We were at capacity, and we couldn’t provide services, couldn’t find housing for them. And so what we do when that happens is we either put them up in a hotel, or we send them to another shelter if they need more safety than a hotel can afford.”

In addition to not being able to provide room in its shelter, Deeley said Liberty House was also unable to provide, for a number of reasons, direct assistance to some individuals. However, even when services could not be provided, Liberty House advocates directed those in need to other resources.

“Our advocates, once a call comes in, they respond within 24 hours,” Deeley said. “The shelter is covered 24/7, 365 days a year, (by a) crisis line. And no call ever goes unanswered, and no person ever gets no service, regardless of what kind of call comes in. If they don’t qualify to come in, we make sure we find something for them to provide them with another resource for other kinds of housing or whatever it is they are looking for. We make those referrals.”

Although there has been an uptick in the number of calls being received from Lee County residents, Deeley said the funding provided by the county has remained at $1,000 a year since 2008. Any additional funding the organization receives would come in the form of private donations, federal, state and local foundation grants, and fundraising activities.

Liberty House, which is dedicated to ending domestic violence, is also a member agency of the United Way, and all of its services are provided free of charge.

The organization’s 24-hour crisis line can be reached at (229) 439-7065 or (800) 334-2836. To learn more about Liberty House and its services, or to find out how to support the organization, contact the business office at (229) 439-7094.