NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — More than 100 Tennessee non-profits have signed a letter urging lawmakers to fund services for survivors of domestic violence. Advocates said without the money from the state, some programs could be on the brink of collapse.
“It’s crazy,” Rusty Burdge said, looking at old photos of what her life used to be like.
The photos on the surface showed a happy family of five. However, Burdge said anyone looking more closely would see something far different.
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“In every single picture the kids are crying; I’m crying, but he’s smiling,” Burdge said.
If you ask Burdge further, she will describe a year of worry and terror. By all accounts, she wasn’t the person she is today.
“[I was] a whole different person,” Burdge added.
That was until she decided: enough was enough.
“It was a situation where I had been abused and stalked, and [without] services that would have not otherwise been there, I wouldn’t be here,” Burdge said.
Burdge spoke about organizations like the YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee. The non-profit is home to the Weaver Domestic Violence Center. The 65-bed emergency shelter is dedicated to women and children. While at the shelter, residents are paired with a case manager who helps survivors begin the process of healing and connects them with community services.
“I had been isolated — like often we are,” Burdge said. “Had the Weaver Center not been available to me, he literally got a street away from me before God intervened and I wasn’t killed that day.”
More than 360 people representing victim service providers signed a letter sent to state lawmakers calling on the Tennessee General Assembly to establish a $25 million recurring budget to maintain live-saving programs that ensure “justice and healing for our fellow Tennesseans, and safe communities for us all.”
“Individuals who are fleeing domestic violence have a place, a safe haven, a place to go to, and I think that all of us agree that we need such resources in our community,” explained Sharon Roberson, the President & CEO of the YWCA. “It’s an investment because the non-profit sector is doing its work, we’ve been doing this work a long time, and we are just asking the state, because we are all in agreement we want our communities to be safe, to invest in our missions to keeping individuals safe in our community.”
Organizations like the YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennesse, have funding that comes from donations, but they said money from the government is the missing piece they need to keep up with the demand.
“We need to have individuals in our state safe, we need especially women and children to be safe in the state, it’s that simple because we are all in favor of being safe, it makes sense for the state to put in the budget to make sure individuals stay safe,” Roberson said.
Stephen Woerner with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Tennessee said in a statement that, “without the dollars to back them up, shelters won’t be able to stay open, crisis hotlines will go unanswered, and child victims of physical and sexual abuse will be left with nowhere to turn
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