On Nov. 17, Good Shepherd Shelter launched a matching grant race. If raised, $125,000 will be matched by a major private foundation. Good Shepherd Shelter’s mission is to stop the generational cycle of domestic violence by providing individualized, comprehensive services and shelter to battered women and their children, and by raising the level of community awareness through advocacy and education.
Studies have shown that one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime and that 85-95 percent of men who batter learned this behavior in childhood by watching their mothers being battered or by being the victims themselves.
“We have been serving the women and children who are the survivors of domestic violence since 1977. This matching grant opportunity gives us the ability to dramatically expand our program — offering our families not only the healing needed to be successful, but additional transitional services to insure their continued success,” said Sister Anne Kelley, executive director of the Good Shepherd Shelter. Sisters of the Good Shepherd have been serving women and children in Los Angeles since 1904.
The funds of $250,000 would enable the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to completely eliminate their mortgage and use those funds to double the size of the program in 2015. The current facility can only house 12 women and their children at a time; this expansion would allow the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to take care of more families for the first time in 37 years.
The matching grant race is being conducted online at www.goodshepherdshelter.org and on Indiegogo at http://igg.me/p/good-shepherd-shelter- grows-matching-grant/x/9056123. The grant race ends Dec. 10.
