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In a pinch, abuse shelter group gets helping hand

The Citrus Abuse Shelter Association received a welcome dose of good news recently when the organization sealed a deal to buy property for a new center and shelter for its clients.

CASA had been looking for months for land on which to build, but the booming real estate market was working against the organization's leaders. Properties of sufficient size in the Inverness area were either sold before they could make an offer or were priced beyond their means.

CASA needed to act quickly itself, not just because the scourge of domestic abuse never takes a holiday, but also because the group had received state grants for the new projects and time was ticking away for the leadership to use the money.

As has often occurred lately, the Church Without Walls stepped up to help solve a major community concern.

The Inverness church agreed to sell property along Turner Camp Road to CASA, which will build a new administrative center on the site. CASA also plans to build a larger shelter that will sleep 28 people at a different location.

With this joyful turn of events, CASA's leaders can now return to their mission of providing counseling and support, and emergency shelter, to the victims of domestic abuse in our community.

As the need for a new and larger shelter indicates, the number of abuse cases is rising and the victims need all the help they can get to not only protect themselves and their loved ones but to attempt to re-establish their lives.

Construction is expected to start soon, and within months, CASA will be ready to help even more families in distress.

In a perfect world, CASA would be able to close its doors because the plague of domestic abuse had been eradicated in Citrus County. That not being the case, the next best thing is for this worthy organization to get the tools, and the space, it needs to fulfill its mission.

[Last modified November 22, 2005, 02:15:27]