Connection, Safety, and Support: Shelter Advocates Find a Way Through Isolation

On any given day, Audrey’s House, Caring Unlimited’s 18-bed emergency shelter, is a full, busy, and bustling home.  Advocates spend most of the day’s (and evening’s!) hours going up and down stairs, meeting with residents to offer critical services, as well as reassurance, company, and support.  Each day is different as residents settle in to their new, safe surroundings, set and meet goals, and find the time and space to begin to heal.

As concerns around Coronavirus (COVID-19) increased, Shelter Family Advocates immediately began to think outside the box to ensure the house would be safely able to accommodate and support families as they, like all of us, changed their lives in even more dramatic, unexpected, and challenging ways, and that families would still feel the embrace of support, even if from a distance.  The community of Audrey’s House is an immediate shift from the isolation so many individuals and families living with an abusive person experience, and suddenly the public health crisis surrounding the spread of COVID-19 threatened to reassert that sense of isolation.

Part of the strategy included creating a ‘supply station’ stocked with household essentials, personal care items, and other necessities.  Residents are welcomed to leave notes indicating what they need, and advocates will restock to meet those needs.

‘A Day in the Life’ at Audrey’s House is almost never the same day twice, but in these unprecedented times we are sharing a glimpse through the eyes (and words) of one of Caring Unlimited’s Shelter Family Advocates:

Shelter Life This Week

Finding comfort in the midst of uncertain times.

The easy flow of mom’s and their children coming downstairs to our office, and our ability to go upstairs and visit anytime has changed.

The way we connect has changed, but not the fact that we still connect; by phone, note and at an occasional ‘social distance’ in the driveway.

In the midst of it all there is the certainty that we do and will connect, and that we are here to support, love and care for one another, evident in these pictures:

The needed supply list, a heart!
And the supplies we will make sure our families get.

Care and love are the only certainties right now.
Give and receive graciously.