Over the last three months, Beacon Center has continued to work actively to provide hope, safety, and resources for survivors of violence in our community. See below for a few of the things we have been up to:
Emergency Shelter Update
Dear Beacon Center Community,
These past three months have been very busy for Direct Service Staff. We have had a full shelter most of the time, averaging around 17 people in the shelter including children. We have been working diligently to help everyone obtain their goals and find their new safe home. We continue to provide safety and hope through the ups and downs of helping our clients rebuild their lives after abuse. Thank you for your continued support of our mission.
Best,
Oriel Ching
Direct Service Coordinator
Ongoing Learning
Beacon Center staff aims to continue learning year-round.
Rural Outreach Coordinator Shona Marshall completed training to become a certified Provisional Advocate this quarter. The National Advocate Credentialing Program is open to anyone who provides services to those victimized by crime and meets the standardized training requirements. Certification standardizes the knowledge and skills of advocates to ensure quality services for victims.
In April, all Beacon Center staff members completed the “Enough Abuse” training led by Children’s Home Society. Recognized by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "...a trailblazing effort to prevent child sexual abuse by building a movement of concerned citizens, community by community," the campaign has been adopted by Children's Home Society of South Dakota in partnership with the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment for distribution and training throughout the state of South Dakota.
This training was beneficial for each of our staff members and is available to anyone in the Watertown community. See more details here (https://chssd.org/prevention/training-events/enough-training-menu).
Lastly, several Beacon Center staff members traveled to Pierre, SD to attend the annual Homeless Summit on June 11th and 12th. This event, hosted by the SD Development of Housing Authority, calls for several agencies to connect and address homelessness. Any client who stays in Beacon Center’s emergency shelter is considered homeless, which makes having a voice in this group imperative.
Walk A Mile in Her Shoes
On May 31st, Beacon Center hosted Walk A Mile in Her Shoes, an awareness campaign and international men's march to stop rape, sexual assault & gender violence. Due to the tremendous amount of community support that we received, the event was a huge success!
We had 127 registered participants and over 20 volunteers who pledged to stop sexual violence.
Thank you again to each of our event sponsors!
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