'More private and comfortable': Gateway moves in to new domestic violence shelter in Gainesville
Jan. 5—Gateway Domestic Violence Center will be fully moved into its shelter by the end of the month, a $4.5 million project years in the making that will nearly double its capacity to serve survivors and their families.
"It's just been very overwhelming to see this come to fruition and to know that we have this new space to serve survivors of domestic violence and to have the community support to be able to move into this new facility without any debt," said Gateway's executive director Jessica Butler. "It's incredible."
The new shelter in Gainesville will increase the emergency housing capacity from 18 beds to 35. They will also have two more units for transitional housing, jumping from 10 to 12 units.
Butler does not have the final bill from the builder just yet, but the agency was able to raise just over their goal of $4.5 million.
The executive director said everything should be completely relocated by the end of January.
While the agency is best known as a shelter, Butler said they are particularly proud of their increased space for support groups and classes which serve a few hundred people every year.
The current space, Butler said, felt more like families living under the same roof in the same house. The new shelter, however, is more like a hotel, a more private and comfortable place with separate bathrooms.
"It's going to be a much better experience for people who need our services," Butler said.
The move to the new shelter comes just a bit after Gateway hit a major milestone: its 40th anniversary of offering services in Hall County.
Lynda Askew, one of the founding members of Gateway who still serves on the advisory board, first got involved with the agency in the early 1980s.
"The community really wasn't fully aware of the scope of the problem because nobody was asking and people weren't talking about it," Askew said. "It wasn't a visible issue like it is now."
The Gateway House first opened in 1982, and the agency moved into a new shelter provided by the city of Gainesville in 1985.
Having seen the new shelter, Askew said the building offers more privacy while being in a "safe place that has access to public transportation and access to jobs."
Former Executive Director Cheryl Christian joined Gateway in 1983 when it could only house 12 people.
"As the community has grown, the need has grown, and unfortunately, domestic violence hasn't decreased," Christian said.
The new shelter "really encompasses all the needs that the family has," Christian said.
"We've really worked hard to make sure that it's going to feel comfortable for the families, have plenty of space for children to play (and) have plenty of spaces for support groups," Christian said.
When she left Gateway in the 1990s, Christian moved to the state level and traveled across Georgia working with different shelters.
"I think I became more and more aware of just how special this community is, how caring (it is)," Christian said. "We raised $4.5 million for this new shelter. Largely, that money came from the community."
