Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 07/02) - The Inuvik safe home for women is facing closure, unless there is an influx of volunteers.

At the Transition House annual general meeting held last Saturday, there were not enough members to even hold elections.

President Mabel Brown says that the safe home desperately needs volunteers and board members and without that community support, she says current staff will be stretched too thin.

"It means burnout for the few workers we do have," Brown said. "It means burnout for the employees and board members."

"We're looking for any kind of support -- even if they'd just call and tell us they know how important this place is," Brown said.

Transition House began back in the early 1990's as Friends Against Family Violence. The first women's shelter was an abandoned group home.

Brown says there will always be a need for the safe house.

"Violence will never leave our society," she said. "It's always there, lurking behind doors and attacking families."

"It comes at really unexpected times, so women need a place to turn to," she added. "Before this house was here, women used to have to go to their employers to find a place for safety."

Executive director Anne Kasook said the society has come along way in bringing the issue of family violence out of the darkness.

"Women and children were suffering for years with a silent issue," Kasook said. "Family violence was never talked about and people still have a hard time breaking free from the silence of the violence."

"It's taken 10 years to bring out any kind of awareness to the issue."

Kasook says that while their numbers are statistically down this year, the reason is not necessarily because family violence is down. She says women are using the courts, leaving before a bad situation becomes worse.

"It doesn't mean family violence is down, but I think awareness is up," she said. "Women are realizing they have options."

She says the home gives women a fresh start and is needed no more than ever.

"If women are forced to leave home, there is this place where they can have a room to think for themselves and to start making plans to move on, rather than stay stuck in the cycle of violence."

Brown understands why volunteer support has sagged over the years, with most people working and caring for families, but they plan an awareness drive before the meet again in mid-June.

"There are too many things going on in town, right now," Brown said. "We need to get the message out to people."