For many, holidays are a time filled with warmth, joy, friendship, and good food. It always leaves me reflecting on what love, comfort, and hope mean for our community and those that YWCA Spokane serves. As I spend time with my family this season, I am grateful to be able to feel cared for and safe.

Unfortunately, thousands of people experiencing domestic violence don’t have that luxury. Home for them is not caring or safe. For them, home is a place of fear, manipulation, and suffocating control.

To an outsider, leaving may feel like the simplest solution. But for a survivor, leaving doesn’t always feel like a viable option.

Sarah, a survivor we served this year, was on the brink of homelessness due to her abuser’s control. She had recently become a mom of four with the addition of her new daughter, who was only six months old. Leaving her abuser had felt like an insurmountable obstacle. Providing for four children and herself, with the rising cost of groceries, gas, and childcare was impossible. To add to the weight of her circumstances, she had no job and was behind on rent. A future without control, manipulation, and pain was a faraway dream.

In our work, the fear of becoming homeless is a common reason for staying, and it’s not an unreasonable one. Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women in our community.

Homelessness creates incredible uncertainty and is a massive barrier to seeking a life free from violence and fear, especially as our clients are disproportionately women, who may feel extraordinarily unsafe on the streets.

As winter and the holiday season approaches, we see a large increase in the need for safe housing for survivors. This demand is often higher than our service capacity. It forces us to prioritize the people who are in the most imminent danger and face the greatest barriers. There are still so many others who face the choice to stay or lose their home. Those people need the YWCA, and they need you.

For Sarah, every lifeline had been taken from her. Her abuser controlled her finances, her ability to get a job, who she talked to and what she did. She felt her only options were to stay with her abuser or live in her car with a brand new baby and her three other children.

Without your help, countless domestic violence survivors will face a situation like Sarah’s this holiday season.

More often than not, when survivors come to YWCA Spokane for help, they have no other options, and the safety and stability of their lives is in jeopardy. They need hope. You can give that to them.

When another violent incident happened, Sarah’s abuser was finally arrested. She was physically safe, but now she was on her own with no other source of income. She immediately began searching for jobs, but the threat of losing their home loomed over her.

But Sarah wasn’t ready to give up. She looked for resources everywhere she could and eventually came to YWCA Spokane’s advocacy walk-in hours.

A YWCA advocate welcomed Sarah in. Together, they worked out a plan to use flexible funding to pay her back owed rent, successfully keeping her in her apartment. She was connected with resources to help her get nutritious food for her children, hygiene products, and continued assistance with her rent while she searched for a job. She was even able to get counseling to help her process what she experienced.

With support and care from YWCA staff, she and her children flourished during their time with us.

But, it didn’t take long for Sarah to find herself at a loss. Her abuser was released from jail and he knew right where to find her. Her apartment that she had worked so hard to keep became dangerous.

Thankfully, Sarah knew she had options at the YWCA. She came back and reunited with her housing advocate.

With connections to more resources and support from her advocate, she was able to find a new home. It even had more space for her children to play! And most importantly, her abuser didn’t know the location of it. She’s now safe, employed, and covering her own rent. Because of you, Sarah found the urgent safety and support she needed at YWCA Spokane.

As the holidays approach, we want to help as many survivors as possible in the same way we helped Sarah. The winter season is difficult, and personal and financial stressors lead to increased violence from abusers. That leads to an influx of survivors who need your support.

Your gift today can ensure that more survivors find a path to security and freedom. Your generosity frees up valuable resources and gives us the flexibility to serve more survivors in the most impactful way for them. Without that support, we could not afford to help survivors like Sarah and the thousands of others who turn to YWCA Spokane for support, healing, and hope every year.

We must raise $200,000 before December 31 to meet the increased need and continue to provide housing support and other vital services to survivors of domestic violence. To help us meet this goal, a generous group of donors and sponsors have already come together to create a Challenge Fund of $100,000 to match your gift. That means giving your gift before December 31 doubles the impact!

Please help us take advantage of every dollar!

Will you rise to the challenge and help a survivor this holiday season?