We are the Thursday Evening Writers Group, a group of women who've been coming to this place, A Woman's Place, once a week for a year. We walk into this room, a safe space, many of us weary from a long day, open our journals and put pen to paper. An hour or so later, after we've written, read aloud, laughed and cried together, we close our books, happily give out and joyfully receive warm hugs - and make our way home. One year ago we asked for your help to make our special group happen. You generously answered that call. This week is National Storytelling Week. It's a British holiday, but we choose to celebrate it; to celebrate you for valuing our stories and for giving us a space to be heard.

 What brought us here is a shared history of domestic violence: emotional, verbal, physical, financial. We've been screamed at, berated, choked, humiliated, slapped, isolated, raped - by people who were supposed to love us. We'd heard of A Woman's Place before, but thought it was only a shelter for women, until a medical professional, a friend, a neighbor gave us a card or a packet or the hotline number. Each one of us called; each one of us received individual counseling; some of us have turned to the legal advocacy department to support us when we summoned up every bit of courage to press charges. And all of us found our way to this writing group, one of several support groups A Woman's Place offers that are free, private, and confidential. We were strangers when we came here the first time, but because we have walked the separate roads of our lives together, we are a sisterhood.

A Woman's Place is a place of peace and love. Here we are validated. Here people listen. The organization helped us in crisis, in the middle of confusion and doubt, and continues to provide a place of peace and love when it is lacking in our lives outside this room. At A Woman's Place we find the wherewithal to stay if we have no choice; at A Woman's Place we find the strength to leave when we are ready.We receive guidance on career planning, financial planning; information on community resources, housing options. What a comfort just knowing there is someone out there, here at A Woman's Place who says, "You're okay now. You will be okay."

And the services are not just for us. Abuse is wide and it affects the whole family. Abuse scars our children when they grow up with a distorted vision of what is normal. Many children of A Woman's Place clients are in counseling here too. Indirectly, as we grow stronger and thrive, we bring healthy values - love, patience, kindness - home.

We can't imagine where any of us would be right now, as professional women, as neighbors, as churchgoers, as moms if we didn't have A Woman's Place. The pain is not our fault. We didn't deserve it. And we are not alone. When we came to A Woman's Place, we began to rebuild and rediscover the voice we'd thought we'd lost. It was only hiding.
 

Because of A Woman's Place, because of you, we are still here.

The Thursday Evening Writers Group