Ashley sat frozen at the foot of her Airbnb bed. She knew she had to get James from school and evacuate – again.

She convinced herself to stand up and walk to the car, carrying two small bags. Those were the only belongings she and James had left after their house flooded in Hurricane Helene. It felt a lot like when she and James escaped domestic violence with only one bag each.

As she drove toward James’ school, she thought about facing the financial burden of the hurricanes, just like she had faced the financial burden of escaping her ex. Her palms began to sweat and her chest tightened. The fear rushed back – fear of her ex, fear of the unknown, fear of losing everything, and fear of not having the financial resources to recover from the devastation of the hurricanes. With the holidays coming up, finances were even tighter.

Then, she thought about how, just one year earlier, she learned about CASA’s Family Justice Center. CASA helped her file for an Injunction for Protection and helped her find a new place to live. CASA also provided the clothing and resources for her to find a job, since her ex didn’t allow her to work.

Through CASA’s support last year, she felt like her life was on a solid path. She had a good job, emotional stability, and a place to call home.

After being displaced in Helene, she started missing work. She felt exhausted and terrified all the time. Those feelings were all too familiar and she knew she needed support to get through them. She reached back out to CASA and started attending support group sessions. James played in CASA’s Youth Center during her sessions and they learned about the opportunity to attend CASA’s Camp Hope next year, an evidence-based camping and mentoring program focusing on children and teens exposed to domestic violence or other trauma.

It was going to be a long road, but she knew she knew she and James would be okay.

Natural disasters can increase rates of domestic violence. They can also interrupt resources provided by domestic violence providers when there are power outages, structural damages, or interruptions to court processes. Furthermore, when someone is already traumatized, it’s easier to become re-traumatized.

The CASA Family Justice Center provides comprehensive wrap-around services – all in one place, removing additional fear, trauma, and emotional exhaustion while helping families access the services they truly need to stabilize and move forward.

We’re grateful for the support you’ve provided to strengthen CASA’s Services. Now that we’re faced with twice as many survivors, we need more staff, more time, and more resources to meet this surging demand for help. So, we’re asking you to be a beacon of hope for survivors.

The CASA Family Justice Center model is proven to increase survivor safety, increase perpetrator accountability, increase evidence collection, increase communication, and reduce homicides. We are proud survivors are getting the help they need on-site – the CASA Family Justice Center has a 99.9% positive feedback rate.

Due to our positive impact on survivors, CASA received the coveted Purple Ribbon Award for Outstanding New Service Launch in the United States. The award from DomesticShelters.org was judged by a national panel of respected professionals from the domestic violence field. We are honored to be recognized for our ongoing impact.

We know we’re doing everything right for survivors. Now we need your help to reach more.