One of the newer thrift stores in Cabot is in a perfect location — right on the corner of Second and Pine streets at one of the busiest intersections in the city, across from the police station and City Hall and right down the road from Cabot High School.
The location is not just good for sales, but it gives a real and accessible public face for Lonoke County Safe Haven, an organization that seeks to provide healing and independence to victims of domestic violence.
“Lonoke County Safe Haven started in 2005,” executive director Sarah Brown said. “A couple of community leaders got together and saw an article in the newspaper about a domestic-violence victim and knew there was nowhere locally for these women and children to go to be served in those situations.”
Those community leaders started a group to help assist victims of domestic violence and, in 2008, built a 16-bed shelter.
Brown said shelters similar to Lonoke County Safe Haven across the state can be divided into two primary location preferences — half are in the middle of town, and half are in an undisclosed rural location. Both options provide security in different ways, and the Lonoke County Safe Haven shelter is in a rural area away from town.
One struggle with being out of sight comes from reaching women who could use Lonoke County Safe Haven’s services to get out of a dangerous situation but may not know those services exist. Brown said she talks with community leaders, groups, people in service industries and churches regularly, but if a victim doesn’t go to those places, she may not hear about the opportunity to escape her situation.
“The new facility that we’ve got where we have our outreach center and thrift store has been amazing with the billboards in town letting people know that we’re here,” she said. “As a part of that, we have seen hotline calls go up. We have seen some of our stays increase and more clients that we’ve been able to serve.”
The joint outreach center and thrift store opened in April of this year.
“We had the idea for a thrift store, but we wanted to be more than just a store,” Brown said. “We wanted to be a place where people could come when they might not want to go to a shelter. They might not need a shelter. Having somewhere they could go and then tell someone when they get home that they just went shopping — but really they got help and had the opportunity to ask some serious questions — is so important.”
Lonoke County Safe Haven also hosts support groups at the outreach center, and Brown said the downtown location is the perfect setting for those groups.
“Having those groups meet right across from the police station is a huge opportunity,” she said.
The nonprofit has set several goals to achieve. The thrift store and outreach center and the upcoming Jeans and Jewels Gala fundraiser are two ways Brown identified that the Lonoke County Safe Haven is working toward those goals.
The Jeans and Jewels Gala is an annual fundraiser in its fifth year. Brown said it is always a great way to wrap up the year and put future dreams in front of the community.
“Jeans and Jewels is our end-of-the-year celebration,” Brown said. “We get to have those one-on-one conversations with a lot of our donors about how their money is being used and some other things we’d like to look at.”
Current dreams include building a kennel at the shelter for pets of victims, getting a counselor on staff with Lonoke County Safe Haven and adding more space to the shelter.
“[The gala] is also a great social-networking opportunity with lots of auction items and music,” Brown said. “Good food, good fun, good entertainment and, hopefully, some good bidding wars.”
The gala will take place Nov. 2 at Bella Terra Estate in Cabot. Tickets are $75 and will be sold until Oct. 30. The doors will open at 6 p.m., and the live auction will start at 8 p.m.
Brown said Lonoke County Safe Haven is reachable through its website, www.lcsh.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at the outreach center. The domestic violence hotline is always available at 501-941-HELP.