After more than a dozen years of covering cities and counties as a reporter, it takes a lot for me to attend yet another government meeting.
But the threat of the county rejecting money that could keep open the doors of the local shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse did it for me.
Kris Camenzind, executive director of Hope Alliance, shared publicly with Chronicle readers and the Lewis County chapter of the American Association of University Women that commissioners rejecting part of the Consolidated Housing Grant money would force the shelter to close by the end of October.
Lewis County has plenty of women who need help. I’ve seen a petite woman with a black eye from a punch by an abusive husband. I’ve listened to a 911 call of a woman being assaulted by her partner. I know women who have suffered sexual assaults.
We need a domestic violence shelter to provide help for women and children whose lives are threatened by people who once professed to love them.
The issue arose last month when Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope insisted the county reject $1.4 million of the Washington state Department of Commerce’s $6.5 million grant because the county didn’t spend the full amount last year, which sounded a bit like grandstanding and pandering to the public when I read about it. He insisted that providing more services for homeless people locally would just increase the number of transients living here.
At last week’s meeting, Commissioner Lindsey Pollock said the county should accept the money and divide it up among programs based on need and accountability, which made sense. Anything they didn’t spend would be set aside.
At Monday’s meeting last week, Camenzind said Hope Alliance helped 230 families retain housing.
“Had I known that we were giving money back to the state, I would have asked for more money, because we have been very frugal about who we’re serving,” she said. “The needs are far greater than what our funding for the previous year has allowed us to spend.”
Both Swope and Commissioner Scott Brummer said they never planned to pull money from Hope Alliance.
“I lived in a safe house for three months when I was a kid because of abuse,” Swope said. “If I can work it out so all $1.4 million actually goes to Hope Alliance, I’m all for it, and I’ll sign it tomorrow.”
In the end, commissioners in a 2-1 vote, with Swope objecting, accepted the entire $6.5 million grant providing money for housing and homelessness prevention. I’m hoping when they examine where the money goes, they do provide more funding to help women and children who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. And putting more into mental health and drug treatment centers is also a good investment to provide help in a time of crisis — a hand up instead of a handout. It’s also important, as Swope said, for commissioners to provide diligent oversight and accountability for each penny spent.
Claquato Church
I’m hoping all goes as planned with the submission of a bid by the Claquato Cemetery to take over the historic Claquato Church and preserve it for future generations.
Lewis County has a rich history, and we need to preserve it and even capitalize on it. Claquato has done a great job preserving and maintaining the historic cemetery.
I applaud the cemetery for stepping up to take over the church from the county.
Museum volunteers
As I spent day after day scanning photos at the Lewis County Historical Museum last month for a Centralia photo history book, I kept thinking how blessed we are to have had so many dedicated volunteers through the decades who catalogued thousands of photos and hundreds of oral histories.
My mind thought back to the Margarets — Margaret Langus and Margaret Shields — who volunteered for decades at the museum, clipping newspapers, cataloging photos, typing captions, filing obituaries, and simply preserving our local history.
What a blessing their dedication has proven to be, and what a legacy they’ve left at the old Chehalis train depot.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
