Page 40 - Giving Guide_FINAL

40 A TIME FOR GIVING

Safety, healing and

freedom from domestic

abuse and sexual assault.

The Women’s and Children’s remaining in the building it had
Alliance is recognizing its 110th occupied since the 1950s.
anniversary, making it one of “We’re a young state, … but
Idaho’s oldest institutions. the WCA, in terms of our local
It was founded by nine history is very old, which I think
pioneering women as a training is pretty cool,” said Chris Davis, into shelter because the threat to ‘We’ve never stopped
center for women, and sometimes spokesperson for the Women’s their life is so extreme, and they providing any of our
served as a safe place for them and Children’s Alliance. “I think we often have law enforcement refer- services’
to stay. Before becoming its own are doing a real good job being rals. Stressors of money and the
organization, the Women’s and progressive and changing with the economy and political and civil As 2020 draws to a close,
Children’s Alliance was essentially times.” unrest, among others, have led to and despite the pandemic, the
an extension of the Y. Today, the Women’s and Chil- the dramatic increase in call num- Women’s and Children’s Alliance
Around the 1980s, the needs dren’s Alliance has marked yet an- bers, Davis said, and she and some is happy with the funds it has
of women changed; child care other milestone: meeting growing colleagues in the court advocacy raised, so far. The nonprofit raised
started to be offered, and women calls amidst a statewide shutdown, services are seeing the severity of approximately $300,000 of its
often lived with roommates be- resulting from a global pandemic. calls increase as well. $500,000 goal during its first ever
fore getting married. Even jazzer- “We’ve had a 91% increase, “We were tracking to be on nor- virtual event, Davis said, and, also
cise made its way into the organi- monthly, in calls relating to do- mal [call volume] the first several gratifyingly, the giving society
zation. But also around that time, mestic violence this year com- months, to be about the same [as gained new members.
domestic violence was gaining pared to last year,” said Davis. last year]; we really took a steep “For us that long term [multi-
awareness, making it a growing “We’ve had four times as many increase in March,” Davis said. “I’m year giving] helps us budget out
problem. emergency intakes to the shelter hearing the incidents of weapons for three to five years,” Davis said.
The Women’s and Children’s this year than last year.” being introduced, or strangula- “We were really pleased with
Alliance disaffiliated from the This means those emergency tion, those things are happening the numbers of people we had
Y, and became a crisis center, intakes bypass waitlists and come more frequently.” log into our virtual events,” she

The Women’s & Children’s Alliance depends on the support of the community to
continue offering much-needed services to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual

assault. Foundations, corporations and individual donors all contribute to the
ability of the WCA to serve the community.

TO DONATE GO TO: wcaboise.org 208-343-3688