Battered women helping each other Battered women helping each other (December 10, 2004)

Support Network provides shelter, legal services, therapy

By Jon Wiener

Mariana Martinez started dating the man who would become her husband at age 14. The beatings started when she got pregnant with her first daughter, and intensified after her birth. He called her names in front of people, forbid her to cut her hair, wear make-up or even leave the house.

"After a while, if he even came near me, my children would start crying," Martinez said.

When she finally called the police, they came to her house but decided not to arrest him. They changed their minds when he physically attacked them. Later, when he got out of jail, Martinez said he slashed her tires and threatened her with a knife.

Martinez was among several survivors of domestic violence to share their stories at a fund-raiser hosted by Support Network for Battered Women on Dec. 2. She credited the Mountain View-based nonprofit for helping her stay in the country and win custody of her daughters after getting divorced.

The Support Network is one of five nonprofits benefiting this year from the Voice Holiday Fund.

These days, Martinez volunteers for the organization, which runs a 24-hour bilingual hotline for victims and a shelter for women and their children. Since its inauspicious beginnings 30 years ago, Support Network has grown from operating one phone line half a day each week out of a local church to controlling an annual budget of close to $2 million. It now also includes legal support for victims, therapy, counseling and a teen program.

The shelter hosts about 300 women per year and more than 600 children, mainly from Santa Clara County, according to development director Tami Cardenas. The organization uses drop-off points and confidentiality agreements to protect the secret location of the shelter.

"Even the police don't know where it is," said Cardenas.

The agency has scaled back some of its programs in the face of declining revenues, but Support Network attorneys continue to provide advice and representation to women seeking restraining orders or divorces. Volunteers and staff members contact victims of reported domestic abuse incidents to notify them of their rights.

Cardenas said she was hoping to bring in $50,000 from the recent fund-raiser, including a one-third matching grant from entrepreneur Mir Imran. At the end of the presentations, volunteers passed out pledge cards and implored supporters to increase their donations.

Speakers at the first-time fund-raiser called domestic violence "an equal opportunity problem" that affects 4 million women each year from all walks of life. Survivors told of feeling isolated and thinking they were alone.

Sheila Badon was lying in the back of a pick-up truck 15 years ago, the victim of an attack by her second husband. Her jaw broken and several of her teeth missing, she called 9-1-1, only to learn that emergency dispatch would not respond to "domestic disputes."

Since leaving her abusive husband, Badon started stuffing envelopes for the organization as a volunteer and has since gone on to become board president of Support Network.

Kathy Williams, another survivor, first became a victim at age 15 and remained one for 20 years before she found Support Network

"If you hear 'I will kill you if you try to leave me,' you won't leave," said Williams.

"We hear that, and we say, 'What hope is there? What hope is there for women who're trying to leave?' The hope is agencies like Support Network."

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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