Editor’s note: The United Way of Colquitt County provides funding and services for 21 member agencies. This article is the first in a series of articles spotlighting several of the agencies. The United Way fund-raising campaign is under way through Oct. 28 with a goal to raise $380,000 for Colquitt County. The campaign theme this year is “Make the Winning Play — Give to United Way.”



When someone calls on you to make a contribution to the United Way, do you wonder where and how your money will be put to work? Well, as one of the recipient agencies of those funds, I’d like to tell you. My name is Jeri Croyle. I’m the executive director of Hero House, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Colquitt County, a non-profit organization.

Aside from our operating expenses, of course, we use our United Way funds to help us stay on the cutting edge with the equipment and training necessary to minimize the trauma of child sexual and physical abuse in a child-friendly, safe environment. We use a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) approach to provide investigation, assessment, and treatment of these children and their families and to maximize prosecution of those who commit crimes against children. We also work to meet the community’s needs in the area of education and prevention of child abuse.

Let me introduce you to Hero House’s Board of Directors: Dr. Diane Cerjan (vice chairman), Dr. Judy Fish, Hamilton Gamer, Dr. Patty Lee June, Henry Klar, Chief Frank Lang, Brian McDaniel (secretary), Myrtis Ndawula, Capt. Hal Suber, Denise Taylor, Betty Vereen, the Rev. Hugh Ward (chairman) and Clifton Yates (treasurer). Our MDT is run by McDaniel, the assistant district attorney, and includes Coral Brooks (the victim advocate), Diane Cerjan, Dr. Patty Lee June, Denise Taylor, me, and any DFCS and law enforcement people who have open cases that involve child abuse.

The name Hero House was adopted last year for two reasons. The first being that the Children’s Advocacy Center of Colquitt County is quite a mouthful when I answer the phone. Secondly, when you shorten that to the “CAC,” we didn’t want to be confused with the Community Action Council that often goes by CAC. We’ll be adding “Hero House” to our sign in the front of our building soon and hope that people will remember what Hero House is.

Hero House is where children who are sexually or physically abused can come to have a forensic interview done. The intent of the interview is to eliminate the child from having to tell what happened over and over and provide sound evidence for plea bargaining or if a case should go to trial. The interviews are conducted by trained Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) workers (for the most part, Regina Dismuke and Pam Helms), Law enforcement agencies, and either the District Attorney’s Office or Hero House’s director, using a highly technical video system. There are three cameras used during each video to prove its authenticity. This same system was installed at the courthouse to enable the jury to view the video if a case should go to trial. It was with United Way funds that this equipment was installed at Hero House and it is with the help of United Way funds that this equipment is maintained. United Way funds also help provide the child forensic interview training for DFCS and law enforcement.

The statistics on child abuse, especially sexual abuse, are staggering. According to Darkness to Light, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching adults simple, pro-active steps to help protect children from sexual abuse, one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthdays. And to make matters worse, most child victims never report the abuse. It is with these numbers in mind that Hero House is looking for ways to educate the public on prevention of child abuse. At the end of last year we had three board members trained to be Stewards of Children facilitators.

“Stewards of Children” was started by Darkness to Light as a prevention and response program for adults. They want to protect children from sexual abuse by placing responsibility directly on adult shoulders. In order to do that, adults need to be educated on ways to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The training is a three-hour session or can be split into two 1-1/2 hour sessions. It will be available to the public for just the cost of the manual and booklet used in the training ($15 per person). Target areas for this training will be churches, teachers, school employees, day care centers, the YMCA, anyone that works with children in any capacity and, of course, interested parents. Two of our Stewards-trained facilitators are licensed psychologists with their doctorates so you will definitely be getting a great training session. Please call Hero House (890-5549) for more information or to set up a training session. And, you guessed it. United Way funds helped pay for this initial training.

Well, I hope I haven’t bored you with too many details. Hero House is truly a labor of love. Child abuse is something our society should never find acceptable! United Way funds, along with funding from the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia (CACGA), local donations, memorials, and our wonderful, ever-faithful Hero Sponsors are our only means of income. Thank you for helping us fight the fight against child abuse, making a difference one child at a time. There’s no excuse for abuse!