Tom Oehler passed around the sign-up sheet for Stir It Up. Volunteers are still needed. Friends of the Library Trick or Trivia event is this Friday and there is room for three more people. See Chad or Lisa if you are interested. Stacy announced that Ted’s daughter was in a bad car accident last Friday night. Tim suggested we send flowers from the Club. Dawn announced the Trunk or Treat event at Sugar Creek Church tonight at 7:00.

Heidi spoke about the Association for the Prevention of Family Violence (APFV) and the facility they are raising money to build. It is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month in October.  APFV started in 1977 to help victims of family violence. In 2000 they added victims of sexual assault. Last year, in 2016, they helped 700 families (not individuals) in our county.  Abuse often starts out as emotional abuse and later gets physical. In the past couple of years they have seen a dramatic increase in choking/strangulation incidents. When they place women and children in hotels for safety, the cost is $82/night. Across the country there are 2 ½ times as many animal shelters as domestic abuse shelters. Nearby places like Twin Oaks is not sufficient because they are almost always full.
Studies show that 50% of girls that come from abusive families go on to be in abusive relationships and 60% of boys who were abused become abusive if there is no intervention. APFV wants to provide treatment and counseling. Children all react differently, some try to be “perfect” and some are the opposite and act out, being as bad as possible. APFV is doing many things right, like their 24 hour crisis line, but the thing they still need is a safe place for families to go in crisis. They want their new building to provide both emergency housing, less than 60 days, and long term housing which would be an apartment where families could stay. There is a big meeting coming up on December 6 where some decisions will be made on the building and Heidi will return to update us. They had a naming contest for the new building and the winner will win a $250 Visa card. It will be announced tonight at the Simple Café fundraiser. Spoiler alert- the winner out of 112 entries is “New Beginnings”.