MOULTRIE — Since 2000, Colquitt County has been the backdrop for 11 fatalities associated with domestic violence. The last occurred in 2005.

“Yeah, we’ve been fortunate,” Director Blue Shaddix said Friday.

The number of reported domestic violence incidents doesn’t appear to be decreasing. Already, the shelter has taken care of as many women and children as it had all last year.

“We’re at capacity right now,” said Rob Howell, attorney and chairman of the board of Colquitt County’s domestic abuse shelter. “We’ve got to make arrangements for other places for people to go.”

In fact, other areas shelters are full as well, Shaddix said.

Not one more fatality: That’s what Serenity House is set up to accomplish, board members said as they prepared for a candlelight vigil scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday within the courthouse annex.

Most of the women at Serenity House are from Colquitt County, but the shelter does take in women from other areas, especially those who are most at risk. Serenity House has even sheltered women from other states trying to escape their abuser.

Running Serenity House isn’t easy. It’s like running several households at once.

“This morning, three trips to Moultrie by lunch,” Shaddix said. “We have four women and 11 children. Our grocery bill has been just — astronomical.”

“We get donations of food throughout the year, but that only goes just so far,” Howell said.

“... I heard somebody say that they never saw somebody get so excited about toilet paper. You can imagine how much toilet paper we go through,” Shaddix said, but quickly trumped that with one word: Diapers.

Currently, there are three infants at Serenity House.

Staffing is short — down to Shaddix working 60 hours a week with only one part-time employee for back-up during the day.

“She is tired. We are working her to death,” said Carolyn Brazel, clerk of Superior Court and board member. “... We’re just very seriously understaffed.”

“And always underfunded,” Howell said.

“... Underfunded, and I am extremely concerned that without Blue and without Dr. D.W. Adcock, Serenity House would not be open today,” Brazel said.

On top of sheltering victims, Serenity House is there to help others secure protective orders through the courts. Many who they help never step foot inside the shelter’s doors. Also, Serenity House offers a transitional program — which is at about 80 percent capacity — that provides counseling as well as training in job skills, parenting and money management for those who qualify and truly take steps to better their lives and those of their children.

“... You know what amazes me is how much we’ve done without government funds. We get $20,000 from the county commissioners. We get nothing from the City of Moultrie, and a lot of our patrons are from within the city,” Brazel said.

That could change. The mayor and city council have promised, she said, to consider funding.

Running Serenity House comes with extraordinary risks. The danger is real. The location of the shelter is revealed only on a need-to-know basis, and staff, volunteers and even involved local agencies are keeping a vigilant watch over their shoulders lest an obsessive abuser makes any trouble.

Serenity House’s services unfortunately become in more demand around the holidays and, Shaddix has noticed, around Super Bowl.

“A lot of people lay a lot of money on those games. They get to drinking and when their team loses, they take it out on whoever’s there sitting beside them,” she said.

And don’t discount full moons, she said. They can be just as problematic.

“The whole purpose of domestic violence month is to get the issue to the forefront of people’s minds,” Howell said. “We need people to act upon this issue. If they are a victim of domestic violence or know somebody who’s a victim, please contact us — unfortunately it’s a crime that often goes unreported.”

Often women who are abused feel as if they have nowhere else to go and that they can’t make it on their own, the board members said. Now is the time to make the break in that cycle of violence, they said.

At this year’s vigil, a mother of three will share her story of how she broke free of despair and found hope through Serenity House. In addition, board members will accept donations — monetary donations or gifts of household and personal items needed in operating the shelter.

“I speak for all of our board members when I say that this is very much a ministry that we provide to the community. Local church support is always needed, welcome and appreciated,” Howell said.