We've Moved!

With the help of many friends, our Gainesville Office has moved. After more than 7 years of serving the community from the Community Foundation office complex on Oak Street, the Children's Center for Hope & Healing's main office in Gainesville has moved to Main Street. The new space address is 226 Main Street SW which is located just off the downtown square, across the street from the new parking deck. On Main Street, this is beside the Sidney O. Smith Building and about two doors down from The Collegiate Grill.

The new office, approximately 4,500 square feet is almost double the size of the old office (2,400 square feet). The Children's Center had been very squeezed in the old office. The new space allows forr a great deal more room for children's activities.

As children have come into the new office for the first time, it has been fun to see the expressions on their faces. Wide-eyed, they've said things like "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said the new place was bigger!" They love the new space.

The agency is very grateful for the help of volunteers from Cargill, UPS, and from Browns Bridge Community Church in Cumming who helped with painting and moving.

United Community Bank donated some beautiful cubicles that the agency is able to use in the new building. Cox Communications graciously provided telecommunications wiring to install a new phone system which was donated by Dermatology Associates of Northeast Georgia. The phone and wiring donations saved the Children's Center for Hope and Healing more than $10,000 that it would have had to pay in the moving process to install its phone and computer system.

The agency is also grateful for the donations of paint and furniture from Sherwin Williams and of community leaders and long-time supporters Lyn and Wyc Orr who donated some beautiful furniture being used in several of the offices.

Hundreds of people are served through the Gainesville office each year. The agency is very grateful for the many people in the community who made the move possible!

Christmas for the Kids

Teddy Bears wearing Spider Man costumes, dressed in tutus or Batman capes, carrying medical kits or rolling pins--the creativity on display at Liberty Mutual was endless! Over the course of several weeks, the employees collected teddy bears for the children we serve. On the day the bears were to be delivered, an employee balloting process was conducted alloying all staff to vote for the best bear in several categories including Best Girl Bear, Best Boy Bear, Most Creative, and Funniest Bear, as well as the Beat Overall. Some of the bears were distributed to the children during the holidays, while others will be kept and given out throughout the year. The Children's Center for Hope & Healing uses Courage Bears or Comfort Bears--depending on the needs of the child--to help the children who come to us. The Courage Bears help chase away nightmares and other trauma symptoms; the Comfort Bears help keep the children safe and give them comfort when a comfort object is needed.

A special group of motorcycle riders--Silent Partners for the Kids--also made Christmas brighter for the children we see. This group, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for child-serving agencies in and around the Atlanta area, collected toys and donations at their annual Christmas party which they distributed to families identified by three non-profits, including the Children's Center for Hope & Healing.

With the toys and gift cards this group provided, we were able to help 33 children in 7 families identified by our therapists as among the neediest of the clients we serve. These families were located in 4 different counties we serve and included families such as a family in which a father had been on disability for several months and a family in which a single-parent mother had just completed a drug court program and was rebuilding her life (and her children's) with little income or support.

At the sight of the gifts, one mother cried with gratitude. "I love you," she said. She went on to say that there had been so little under the tree and she had really wanted to make it a good Christmas for her child.

Approximately 60% of the families served by the Children's Center for Hope & Healing live at or below the federal poverty line. We are very grateful for the interest these groups have shown in making Christmas better for the children of our families.

Women's Services Resumes Counseling

Thanks to the receipt of a Federal Government Recovery Act grant, the Children's Center for Hope & Healing was able to resume its Women's Services Program. Women’s Services works with women who have survived child sexual abuse. The Women's Services Program provides counseling services to women who are adult survivors of child sexual abuse.

Research shows that only about 10% of children who are sexually abused disclose that they are sexually abused while they are children. It's not unusual for a woman to reach adulthood without ever having told anyone that she was a victim of sexual abuse. Many reach adulthood without having had any treatment for their abuse.

For a number of different reasons, sexual abuse is often cyclical. The children we see are often brought to our offices by mothers and grandmothers who were also sexually abused. Helping their children recover from abuse is difficult for them because of their own histories. Not only does treating these women help the women (a worthy goal in and of itself), but it also makes them better able to parent their children and assist in their children's recoveries.

The Recovery Act grant the Children's Center received allowed us to hire, Dr. Susan Collins, PsyD., as a full-time therapist to work exclusivley with women and female teenagers. Susan will work to assist women who are adult survivors to make the transition from victim to survivor, to decrease their sense of social isolation, to increase their sense of self-worth and value, to increase their sense of hope, and to increase their survival skills.

The Children's Center for Hope & Healing had offered Women's Services in the past, but had to discontinue these services in the fall of 2008 during a reduction in forces forced by cuts in grant-funded revenue sources. The Recovery Act grant of $80,000 allowed the agency to not only re-instate Women's Services, but also add an additional Victims Services therapist to increase the number of counseling hours offered to the community.

The Recovery Act grant is a one-year, non-renewable source of funding. The Children's Center for Hope & Healing is actively working to find additional sources of revenue to continue these services beyond the expiration of the grant.

2nd Annual Harvest of Hope Gala Raises over $23,000 to Benefit the Children's Center

On October 17, the second gala and silent auction to benefit the Children's Center for Hope & Healing was held at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville. The Event featured the band Synergy from Atlanta and celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the agency.

The Children's Center for Hope & Healing--originally the Family Relations Program--was founded in 1984. Those who were honored included the founding Board of Directors: David Bell, Judy Brownell, Kelly Miles, Evanda Moore, Keith Morris, and Gina Stappas. In addition, the founding treatment team was honored: Cheryl Dooley, Paula Early-Adams, Elaine Gerke, Trent Hoffmann, Dr. Guy Jordan, Sudi Lenhart, and Dr. Tom White. The first therapists at the agency were all volunteers! They would work for a full day in the community in other staff positions and then, in the evenings, come to the agency and volunteer as therapists to serve the first clients at what was then called the Family Relations Program. The event also recognized all former Board members.

The 2010 gala will once again be held at the Quinlan on Saturday, October 23.

The silent auction offerings were very diverse and included three strings of pearls (one mother-daughter set as well as another string), two Frank Norton orginal pieces of art as well as a piece by Bill Galardi. A wine rack filled with wines from different countries around the world and several getaway trips were also offered.

The agency is particularly grateful for its sponsors:

Event Sponsors

Silver Leaf ($2,500)
Autumn Leaf ($1,000)
Tommy & Chantal Bagwell	Dr. Jon Rubenow in honor of the services of AVITA
Joan Alford & Diane Bryant	Sam's Club
Lyn & Wyc Orr	Wilco Printing
The Fudgery
Patron Sponsors ($500)
Alexander Almand & Associates	Kohl’s
Cargill	Laurelwood
Coca-Cola	Nicole & James McCoy
Phaedra & Arturo Corso	Mansfield Oil
Rebecca & Russell Davis	Patterson & Associates
Sharyn & Frank Davis	Schrieber Foods
Fox, Chandler, Homans, Hicks, & McKinnon	Ellen & Andy Stewart
Maribeth & Andrew Joyner	Wachovia
Michael & Mickie Westbrook

Join Us for a Ribbon Cutting
February 17

Please come and celebrate with us the official opening and dedication of our new Gainesville location on February 17. We'll be recognizing and expressing appreciation for the many who volunteered or donated to make the preparation of this building for service possible.

Date: February 17, 2009

Location: 226 Main Street SW

Time: 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

RSVP: info@hopeandhealingga.org or call 770.532.6530

SAVE THE DATES:

2nd Annual
Educational Conference

"Advocating for Children: Parents and Professionals Dealing with Sexual Abuse"

June 4, 2010

3rd Annual
Harvest of Hope Gala

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Print Newsletter Archive

Voice, Summer 2009

Voice, Summer 2008

Voice, Spring 2008

**Voice is the print newsletter of the Children's Center for Hope & Healing. By breaking the silence surrounding the cruelty of child sexual abuse, the newsletter honors the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The ultimate
tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.”

If you would like to receive a copy of the print newsletter, call 770.532.6530 x 10 and request to be put on the mailing list or email: Rebecca Davis. Note that we do not ever buy, sell, rent, or otherwise share our mailing lists ever, under any circumstances. Your privacy is important to us.