A Safe Place to host fashion fundraiser to support its mission
Local nonprofit A Safe Place is hosting the "most fashionable night on the North Shore" Friday, July 14, to raise awareness of domestic abuse and human trafficking in Lake County and beyond.
It's a fundraiser and a celebration of community support for the organization and its mission.
The seventh annual "Wine, Women, and Shoes" fundraiser is set for 6-10 p.m. Friday, July 14, at Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. The event will feature a survivor fashion show, including a model sharing her journey to healing; wine tasting; marketplace; and more.
While the organization maintains a steady schedule of fundraising events to raise awareness for its mission, Chief Development Officer Damaris Lorta says community support behind the scenes is equally important.
Case in point: volunteer Shawn Huber, a logistics engineer at local health care manufacturer and distributor Medline, revolutionized the agency's shelter operations by retooling the its emergency supplies closet so that it was no longer difficult to quickly find specific items clients needed.
Huber learned about A Safe Place from an internal volunteer-connection website. Attracted by the group's mission, he spent about a year working with the group to build new systems for reorganizing the closet, establishing inventory controls, and recognizing donors' gifts of essential items.
"When I saw the notice about Lake County's largest program ... I knew immediately that they could use my help," Huber said.
He helped the group keep it simple, but effective. For example, instead of bar-code tagging everything, he advised the group to develop a system based on milk crates full of supplies instead. By knowing how many of a specific item fit in each crate, staff could quickly see how much they had. By estimating monthly usage, they can use the milk crate system to know when they need more of an item.
"This work is so important to the community," said Karen Frey, senior philanthropy manager at Medline, who noted the company, which is headquartered in Northfield, also supports A Safe Place financially.
"We are so glad that we could contribute both financially and also by sharing what we know best to help A Safe Place."
Lorta says the agency is grateful for all the support behind the scenes, financially and at its events.
"We could not do the work we do without our community support, and Medline has stepped up every time we need something, not only financially but also bringing volunteers into our agency to help in a different way," Lorta said.
A Safe Place offers an emergency shelter to victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking, as well as a 24-hour crisis hotline, permanent and transitional housing, legal advocacy and other essential services. The organization provides necessities to those who arrive (often with no belongings) such as food, clothing, and health care products.
In addition, A Safe Place works to end cycles of abuse through counseling, community education and intervention programs for perpetrators of abuse.
"Wine, Women, and Shoes" will include fine wine, auction packages, and stories from survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking. All proceeds from the event will benefit A Safe Place and their mission of eliminating the epidemic of abuse.
More information is available at asafeplaceforhelp.org.