Stan and Martha Hanson donate $200K to Ocala Domestic Violence Center, women's shelter

Funding burdens have recently gotten a little lighter for the Ocala Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Center and its associated women’s shelter, both operated under Creative Services Inc., following a $200,000 donation to bolster the shelter’s operations.

The center’s CEO, Judy Wilson, told the Star-Banner in November about a funding dilemma in which the nonprofit needed to spend funds up front in order to be reimbursed with grant money.

The lack of private donations and fundraisers since the pandemic started in early 2020 had made those up-front funds scarce, which led to five employees being laid off and a reduced ability to provide support through their counseling service, Guiding Hearts.

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Furthermore, the shelter’s capacity decreased from 80 to 40 beds to allow for safe distancing, and 219 women were turned away in 2020.

“When you go on a wait list for domestic violence, all you can expect is trouble,” Wilson had said, noting some instances where potential clients have been killed after being turned away.

Local philanthropists Stan and Martha Hanson reached out to Wilson after hearing of the shelter’s funding struggles and decided to contribute the $200,000.

Contributing to a worthy cause

“The thing that really got to both of us is the waiting list. Unfortunately, some of those people may become homeless or living in their cars,” Stan Hanson said. “Anything we can do that would help expand upon that, be sure they’re taken care of, was something we were interested in doing, especially being Thanksgiving and also Christmas coming up.”

The domestic violence center and shelter offer services such as case management, counseling, rural outreach to migrant areas, support groups, food, transportation and a safe place to stay. They also offer client assistance to help victims obtain important paperwork like birth certificates or pay utility bills.

The shelter is funded by grants and money from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), including $1.1 million this year that it will only receive as reimbursement if it spends it in advance, which often requires private donation money to support.

“Until they get matching funds, until they actually spend it, they then can apply for it, so that was the one thing to kind of get them ahead of the game on that because $200,000 may convert to $400,000 if it’s a dollar-for-dollar matching grant,” Hanson said.

Funding for emergency services, case management, repairs and more

Wilson said the nonprofit gets large donations occasionally, but this one came at a great time of need and will provide funding while they wait on reimbursements a few months out.

“It’ll pay for emergency services until we get paid back,” Wilson said on Friday. “We didn’t have the money to pay for the services, so now I can hire some people back, and I can get some repairs done, major repairs.”

Wilson explained that the bathrooms stopped working in the counseling building last week, for example, which required hiring a crew to replace the pipes. Without the money, she would have had to close the building, limiting their counseling and hotline services for women in critical situations.

The new funding will allow Wilson to hire back three to four victim advocates, who manage cases and provide resources.

It may also help obtain grants that require nonprofits put up their own matching money, which could help build additional beds in a new building and bring women and children off the wait list.

With additional significant contributions and grants, Wilson says the organization would be set for the upcoming year and could expand further on the property it owns.

“If someone would match this grant, we would be able to build 20 to 40 more beds back from the 80 that we originally had,” Wilson said. “But we need another building. If we had another $200,000, that would be a really good match for two or three of the grants out there.”

'Amazing gratitude'

While Wilson looks to re-establish a higher capacity in the future, she also expressed “amazing gratitude” at how much the Hansons’ donation will support the shelter’s clients by providing food, prescriptions, transportation and other services in addition to hiring back staff members and completing emergency repairs.

“It just got us out of the big hole that we were in financially,” she said.

Hanson said he and his wife have been receiving more donation requests than a couple years ago.

“It tells me that a lot of these organizations are hurting on trying to provide operational funds,” he said. “COVID has really put a damper on the ability of a lot of 501(c)(3)s to go out and raise money. ... A lot of people, even a lot of companies, don’t have the money right now until they get back and get recovered from COVID, whenever that might be.”

The Hansons “remain committed to helping the community,” he said, and will continue to look for opportunities to support nonprofits through personal donations or contributions from the Adam Hanson Better Communities Fund in honor of their son, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2006.

The Ocala Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Center 24-hour hotline can be reached at 352-622-8495 or 352-622-5919. Visit ocaladvshelter.org for more information on donating and volunteering.

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala Sexual Assault Center receives $200K donation after pandemic paused fundraisers