ASHE Announces Supply Drive

By Joel Frady

Diapers, formulas and baby wipes are among the items needed by A Safe Home for Everyone (A.S.H.E.), a program that provides services and support for victims of domestic assault and abuse in Ashe County. A.S.H.E., which is part of the Ashe County Partnership for Children, helped 124 clients in 2007, providing emergency shelter for 21 women and 15 children as well as crisis counseling for 95 clients.

The supply drive has been coordinated by Ashe County Volunteer Coordinator Dawn Goodman, who said the drive will probably be held until the end of January.

"We know right now their needs are critical," said Goodman. "I just hate to think about needing supplies for babies and not having them. These kids have been through enough already, and not having the basics is tragic."

Sarah Wolf, executive director of the Ashe County Partnership for Children, said that the drive is aimed to raise foods for clients with infants and toddlers, and to help meet the shelter's needs.

"We're very short on food items, like canned foods," she said. "Women who leave their homes generally leave with nothing, so we set them up with food, clothing and shelter. Right now our biggest need is food items and any items that can be used by an infant or toddler."

A.S.H.E. is one branch of the Ashe Partnership, which also supplies family literacy and support programs that help clients learn to read and earn their GED. While in the program, the program provides transportation and child care for their clients.

Wolf said that the goal is to help all the victims of domestic abuse.

"Children are our priority, and how they are raised from the day they are born to the day they leave their home is critical to how they are going to be as an adult," she said.

"If there's a child who is being raised in a household" with domestic violence, it can leave a permanent impact on the child.

"That child will make decisions for the rest of his or her life based on the parental modeling that's shown in those critical first years," Wolf continued.

"A Safe Home for Everyone not only helps the adults, mainly mothers, repattern their thinking and their belief system, because they most likely grew up in the same kind of situation.

"Our staff works with e adults to help them get into a safer situation, to feel better about themselves and to get their lives back on track.," said Wolf.

"Also, we help the children, removing them from that situation and helping them to cope. Hopefully, we're making Ashe County a better place for the next generation."

In addition to the items already mentioned, A.S.H.E. needs the following items: cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, paper products, trash bags, feminine products, dishes, glassware, linens and towels. For a full list of items, click to www.ashepartnership.org.

Anyone wanting to donate items can drop them off at Ashe Services for Aging, located at 180 ChattyRob Lane in West Jefferson; the Ashe Partnership for Children's office at Family Central, located at 626 Ashe Central School Road Unit 1 in Jefferson; or the A.S.H.E. office.

To find out more, contact Goodman at (336) 246-2461 or Wolf at (336) 982-4588.