Domestic Violence Increase Means Shortage of Safe Space
The holiday season is unfortunately when domestic violence incidents rise. The killings of two Houston area police officers last week were related to domestic violence. The victims of that violence need a safe place to stay. The reality is there are more women and families in need than there is space. “The hardest thing we face is when people call and we can tell they’re in danger and they want a safe place to go, they need immediate refuge and we cannot provide it,” said Emilee Dawn Whitehurst, President and CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center. “That is heartbreaking. That is scary and it is unacceptable.” She is a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall and talks about the challenges and the possible solutions.
Nina Arellano Robin stayed at the HAWC when she was 9 years old and again at age 11 and remembers the normalcy it provided. “You go in there and it’s not the fighting, it’s not the arguing,” she said. “ It’s not any of that. Just peaceful. To this day I just think about the women there that helped and it made a big impact on my life.”
Football Related Concussions More Serious than Previously Thought
New research shows that a football player can receive a thousand hits to the head in a season. When those seasons start as early as Pee Wee Football, the danger seems obvious. Dr. James Vincent is the Medical Director of Elite Care Emergency Room in Clear Lake and says the patients he sees with concussions are getting younger and says all parents with kids in sports need to know the signs. “The symptoms can include headache and nausea,” he said. “There’s a fogginess. A lot of parents have an intuition. When that fogginess sets over their kid. That kid will just be sitting there. All of those symptoms represent brain injury.”
157 Million Dollars Donated to 4000 Organizations
Did you know that 30% of annual contributions to charities are typically made in the month of December? How do you decide where to direct your donation? The Greater Houston Community Foundation can help with that by accepting your donation now, invest and grow your principal as you decide from among the thousands of charitable organizations the GHCF has relationships with. Diana Zarzuelo is the Senior Director of Community Philanthropy and lays out the many options available and the partnership with Rice University called “Understanding Houston” designed to provide a one stop platform to understand the most pressing needs of the communities of Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery Counties.
Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall airs Sunday at 10:30am.
More Information:
· Emilee Dawn Whitehurst, President & CEO, Houston Area Women’s Center
· Domestic Violence Hotline: 713-528-2121
· Twitter: @hawctalk
Domestic Violence Safe Havens
- Bay Area Turning Point, 210 S. Walnut St. Webster, TX 77598 (281)338-7600 www.bayareaturningpoint.org
-Family Time 1203 S Houston Ave, Humble, TX 77338 (281)446-2615 https://familytimeccc.org/
-Fort Bend Women’s Center, P.O. Box 183, Richmond, TX 77406 (281)344-5750 https://www.fbwc.org/
-SAAFE House-Huntsville & Livingston www.saafehouse.org
· James Vincent, M.D., Director, Elite Care Emergency Room, Clear Lake
· 281-337-75000
· Twitter: @EliteCare24ERlc
· Diana Zarzuelo, Sr. Dir. Community Philanthropy, Greater Houston Community Foundation
· 713-333-2200
· Twitter: @greaterhoucf