The Central Peninsula's domestic violence shelter, the Lee Shore Center, has for its 40-year history served woman and children in crisis. But if plans work out, male victims of domestic violence could be accommodated. To make it happen, though, they first have to tear down an old shed.
"The shed that we have currently is a large shed, but it is as old as the building itself, which is 35 plus years old, and not insulated, so we don't really have any storage space," said Executive Director Cherri Smith. "But that's going to open up a room upstairs in the shelter that I plan on converting to an actual bedroom for male victims, that they can actually then stay at the shelter."
According to board vice-chair Marti Slater, Lee Shore is hosting a Soiree Saturday night to kick-start its fundraising for the project.
"We will have a prime rib dinner, served by Kenai Catering. And there's no bad food that comes out of there. We will also have a silent auction. Raffles and split the pot," she said. "We have music from Don Weller, and we're just looking forward to having a really great time.
Smith added there are plenty of fund-raising enticements to be had at the event.
"We've got some great raffle prizes. We've got a picture from Brian Birdsall. We have a fishing trip. And then we have some beautiful Alaskan art prints that were donated. So the raffle should be great," she said. "I mean, those are very high end items. Tickets are $60 apiece, and they can purchase those at the shore center."
The Midnight Sun Soiree Fundraiser is at 6 p.m., and tickets are also available online at Lee Shore A-K dot org.
