Kennewick’s Support, Advocacy & Resource Center $260,000 shy of funding for new facility

Child abuse victims waiting to meet with a counselor or a law enforcement officer at the Support, Advocacy & Resource Center in Kennewick often have nowhere else to sit but the public lobby.

That is unacceptable to Executive Director JoDee Garretson and her office staff.

People who have suffered a horrific crime, and their families, should be able to begin the healing process as soon as possible in a private space.

Garretson and her team have a plan for a larger facility that will provide office space for all employees, interview rooms and even a “sanctuary courtyard.”

The $1.5 million project is $260,000 short of reaching its goal.

But Garretson is hopeful individual and business donors will help the cause now that it is so close to a reality, in part due to a $750,000 state appropriation.

Garretson held a news conference Tuesday in the cramped North Columbia Center Boulevard center to announce the start of a capital campaign.

She was joined in the announcement by Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin and state Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick.

Garretson said it was meaningful to have them participate since Delvin started the work as a senator in trying to get money from the state’s capital project budget, and Brown “had the same passion to finish it” when she took over Delvin’s seat in 2013.

In addition to solicitations for donations, the organization hopes to bring in money through grant applications and small functions hosted by supporters.

The Support, Advocacy & Resource Center, or SARC, does not yet have a location for the new facility, but it has until June 2017 to be out of the current location and moved in.

Garretson said that deadline is based on the lease ending for the Columbia Center Boulevard facility and the timeframe in which the state funding must be used.

She thinks 22 months is enough time to pull it all off because now that people can see the money is there to make this project happen, it should be easier to raise the final amount.

The center provides around-the-clock crisis services, support and advocacy to child abuse victims and survivors of sexual assault, as well as non-offending family members and people who have been affected by crime.

It also has a prevention program to stop sexual violence in the community before it happens, and is the site of Kids Haven, a joint program with local city and county governments to help with the interviewing of kids.

Far too often a SARC team — which includes counselors, law enforcement and prosecutors — will gather at the center to meet with the victim, but are forced to reschedule because there is no available space to sit down together, like an open conference room, Garretson said.

“We really need more healing space for our clients,” she added, noting the courtyard in the middle of the new building would allow victims and families to get away from the chaos of everyday life.

The organization has many clients who live on the streets or are being trafficked for sexual exploitation. The center needs appropriate space for resources for those clients, including basic necessities such as shampoo, along with diapers and school supplies, Garretson said.

Delvin, who serves on the organization’s advisory board, called Tuesday’s announcement exciting. The facility is critical to meet the needs of the Tri-City community, he said.

It is important to let people who are stuck in abusive relationships or situations know that there are options and resources, Brown said.

“I used to think human trafficking was just something that happened in Third World countries,” she said. “Boy was I wrong.”

To donate or for more information on the campaign, visit supportadvocacyresourcecenter.org, email jgarretson@frontier.com or call 509-374-5391.

This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Kennewick’s Support, Advocacy & Resource Center $260,000 shy of funding for new facility."