October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008

This last fiscal year has been busy for the staff, board and volunteers of Missouri Shores Domestic Violence Center. Positive changes have been made within the organization and clients continue to receive quality services.

Kami Kessler, Executive Director, resigned after seven years of service with Missouri Shores Domestic Violence Center. The board, staff, volunteers, and clients were sadden by Kami’s departure but are fortunate that she is still a crisis phone volunteer for the agency. Emily Paulsen was the Interim Executive Director until the board hired a new Executive Director. On June 9, 2008, Mina Bonhorst began her position of Executive Director.

This year was the seventh year of the “We Are Here Project”. This project has allowed Missouri Shores to establish satellite offices in Onida, Highmore, Murdo and Philip. Staff feels the project has not only been successful in the fact that we are able to provide more accessible services to clients, but it has allowed us to increase awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault in these areas.

The Missouri Shores Charitable Foundation committee continues to work at gathering commitments to the Foundation. To date $131,805.29 has been committed.

A Dessert Tasting event was held at the home of Roberta Lovald. A Wine and Cheese event was also held at the home of Deb Gates. Ed Jacobsen, member of the Foundation committee, created an outstanding power point presentation to be used at Foundation events. The Foundation also utilized Bill Stevens from Stevens Video Services to film Leeanna Fitzgerald, Foundation Spokesperson, speaking about her experience with Missouri Shores. The final project will be used at Foundation events to increase awareness of domestic violence and the importance of the Foundation.

Missouri Shores believes that education and awareness are vital to the prevention of domestic violence. This past year, we continued to facilitate adult and children’s support groups, participated in events such as Kids Safe Saturday and Health Fairs, as well as gave 31 educational presentations with 2,665 individuals in attendance. These preventive presentations were facilitated in four counties to groups such as safety town, various civic organizations, churches, the Boys and Girls club, YMCA, schools, and the Women’s Prison. In addition to presenting information, Missouri Shores published quarterly newsletters, distributed posters and brochures, displayed information on the Oahe Cable Channel, distributed bookmarks to several libraries within our service area, recorded Public Service Announcements, contributed a bimonthly article to River Life and was the subject of numerous articles in the Capital Journal.

As part of an awareness project for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Missouri Shores held a candle light vigil at the Capital Building. The event was more successful than anticipated with 500 individuals attending the vigil. Within recent time the community was hit by a high profile domestic violence case that attracted national media attention and the vigil became a way for community members to heal together. The vigil also included a display of tee shirts designed in memory of the victim. After the vigil, the tee shirts were displayed at the Pierre Mall for more community members to view.

Missouri Shores continued to facilitate the “We Do” workshops this past year. “We Do” is a program available to all women in the community and the focus is self-empowerment. The workshops were held monthly excluding summer months. Some presentations that were held this past year were ‘How to Consolidate Your Debts’, ‘How to Safely Use Your Computer’, CPR Certification, and ‘Painting Something Other Than Your House.’

Missouri Shores continues to support and collaborate with other agencies in order to provide the best possible services to clients. A staff member of Missouri Shores attends Child Protection Team meetings, Child Focused Interagency meetings, Pierre Area Charitable Organization meetings, as well as other community meetings.

Ron Tedrow, CPA, audited the agency’s financial records.

Securing funding to carry out services and programs continued throughout the year. Missouri Shores was very fortunate to receive local, state, and federal grants. Annual membership fees were also collected throughout the year. The annual fundraiser, Hollywood Tonight, was held in January and was a sold out event. In August the Pierre Mall organized and hosted ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,’ which was a fun event to unite community women while raising awareness about the services of Missouri Shores.

The shelter and grounds have also received upgrades and improvements. Staff painted the shelter living room and kitchen. Wood laminate floors were installed in the shelter living room the last week of September. A complete living room set was donated by an individual from Pierre. The fence was stained by a volunteer group. Staff and clients are very pleased with the shelter updates.

Missouri Shores continues to make quality services to the clients our number one priority. In the past year, October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008, we have provided 14,107 services to victims of violence. The House of Hope provided shelter to 164 individuals for a total of 3,229 shelter nights. We served 415 new clients and 426 previously served clients for a total 841 clients.

The accomplishments of Missouri Shores are due to the dedicated volunteers and Board of Directors, the generous donors and members, as well as the devoted staff. Together we can break the cycle of violence.

Submitted by,

Mina Bonhorst

Executive Director

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Updated 6 May 2010