“There are three times more animal shelters than there are shelters for women,” said Chata Alfaro, executive director of the Support Network for Battered Women. “Every time I say that statistic it makes me sick to my stomach.”
Still, it could be argued things have improved since 1978. Back then, when the Support Network began — with one woman and one phone in a rented church room — domestic violence was barely reprimanded by society, and there were almost no legal avenues for women.
It was in that environment that Geri Catherine Rivard, the founder and mastermind behind the organization, dedicated her life to helping give women the support, strength and help they needed get out of violent and abusive situations.
The Support Network for Battered Women has since grown to help thousands of women and children every year. In 2000, the Sunnyvale-based nonprofit served 985 clients and responded to 5,405 calls throughout the Bay Area, including in Mountain View. That same year, the shelter housed 113 women and 133 kids. Currently, the shelter (its exact location is undisclosed) can house eight families at a time.
The list of programs and aid offered by this charitable group is long. Topping that list is the shelter itself, created for women and children suffering from domestic violence and abuse in Santa Clara County. But the group also offers drop-in services designed to foster community support among battered women; the only 24-hour toll-free English-Spanish hotline in Northern California; a Victim’s Advocacy Program; and much more.
“We are trying to reach out further,” Alfaro said, speaking of the group’s new Teen Dating Violence Prevention Program implemented at three Bay Area high schools. In that program — which touts the slogan “Love Doesn’t Hurt” — several teens at the schools take a 10-week training course and spread the word of healthy, functional relationships around campus. Some schools have even presented a skit designed to raise awareness about domestic violence and abuse.
Alfaro was hired three months ago as the new executive director for the Support Network, and brings a strong multicultural and multilingual element to the program. She says she believes an alternative perspective is important because different cultures handle domestic violence in different ways, and women in some cultures feel they need to “save face” and hide the violence.
“This is common in many cultures, including the Asian culture — not just the Latino culture,” Alfaro said.
Another program, La Familia, offers preventative services in local Latino communities by encouraging women to inform family and friends about the occurrence of domestic violence. The program currently functions in the Columbia neighborhood in Sunnyvale, but the word is spreading, and many Latino women are reaching for its benefits.
Alfaro says any money raised through the Voice’s Holiday Fund will go to client services and the Domestic Violence Continuum of Counseling Program, which provides ongoing counseling.
“I really believe in this cause and we appreciate the community’s continual support,” Alfaro said.
For more information on the Support Network, call the office at (408) 541-6100, or visit www.snbw.org. The group’s crisis line is (800) 572-2782. There is also a “National Violence Domestic Hotline” at (800) 799-7233.
