Lori Glenn
NORMAN PARK — The Serenity House board of directors has organized what could be its largest fundraising project ever.
Country music star John Berry will be performing at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Norman Park Saturday night, Aug. 25, to benefit Colquitt County’s Serenity House, a domestic abuse safe haven and recovery program. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Berry has had multiple gold and platinum albums and nominations from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and the Grammys, information from his official website said.
Berry, raised in Atlanta, had his first No. 1 single with Capitol Records in 1994 with “Your Love Amazes Me” followed by “She’s Taken a Shine” and “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye,” the website said. He’ll release a new single, “A Woman Like You,” on Aug. 20, according to the Country Music Television website. Berry plans to release his album, “Those Were the Days,” in January on his own label, Clear Sky Records, CMT said.
“He’s got quite a following. We’ve sold tickets to people in Atlanta. They’re going to drive down,” Serenity House Board Chairman Rob Howell said Friday. “He’s promoting it on his website too.”
A friend of one of the Serenity House board members, Berry has “graciously agreed” to donate a large portion of all the proceeds to the local domestic abuse shelter and life transitional program, Howell said.
“He’s coming all the way from California with his band,” he said. “We’re trying to fill this place up with as many people as we can get in there.”
The Georgia Baptist Conference Center auditorium seats 800. Howell hopes the event will sell out, because there is a chance to make a Berry concert an annual event, he said.
“He is, from what I understand, an extremely philanthropic person, very generous of his time, especially for organizations that he thinks are worthy,” he said. “And Serenity House is certainly one of those. He’s a strong Christian man and really believes in doing good for other people. Quite frankly we were really amazed that he said he’d do this. We’re talking about bring several tour buses, equipment and people all the way from California to do this concert for us. ... People need to know when they buy one of these tickets that it’s going to directly to fund the Serenity House.”
For ticket information, call Howell’s law office at 985-5300.
Serenity House, a nonprofit organization, opened in May 2002 spurred by an undeniable increase in violence and abuse within Colquitt County families spotlighted by the murder of Kim Nuñez, editorial staff member of The Observer. Her estranged husband shot her in broad daylight beside the police station in June 2000; he shot himself to death soon after.
The community rallied around the cause, and the Serenity House organization was built. Since its opening, the emergency shelter has protected 500 women and children, Howell said. The average length of stay is 45 days.
“You can go and call our hotline 24-hours-a-day and seek refuge from your abuser for you and your children. We’ll take you to an anonymous location, and we’ll provide you everything you need until you’re safe that being meals, transportation, legal advocacy, counseling, medical and mental health treatment, try to find you a job, get you into school — whatever we need to do,” Howell said.
More than two years ago, Serenity House expanded its operations to offer a transition housing program, because so often the women would go back to their abuser believing they were powerless and alone.
“... Out of a matter of survival,” Howell said. “You can imagine a woman who has no money and three kids she needs to feed. We saw a cycle where we took care of them with their emergent needs, but when that need was over, they left us and then were coming back. ... Now when you leave our emergency shelter, you have the option to go through, if you qualify, our transitional housing program where we will rent you an apartment, take you to and from work, help you with your meals, pay your bills a large number of months until you can truly get back on your feet and be self-sufficient. ... It’s not a free ride by any means. They have to be taking steps to better themselves, go through counseling to make sure they don’t go back to their abuser and make sure they get a good job so that they can feed their family.”
Often, there’s a waiting list for the program, Howell said. Twenty-eight women and 80 children have gone through that program thus far.
