Federal shutdown threatens Haven

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, January 16, 2019

VALDOSTA — The drawn-out partial federal government shutdown is starting to have an effect locally, and some Lowndes County women may bear the brunt of it.

The Haven, which offers a shelter for domestic violence victims as well as a rape crisis center, may have to cut back services or even close due to the sudden cutoff of federal funding, said Michelle Girtman, executive director.

“We received a letter from our state funders” warning that federal funding was unavailable as of Tuesday, she said. About 80 percent of The Haven’s funds come from the U.S. Department of Justice; the money is filtered from the federal level through state agencies to The Haven, Girtman said.

“Anything we spend from (Jan. 15) onward does not get reimbursed until the shutdown’s over,” she said. “As of right now, we’re OK, but everything depends on expenses.”

The Haven is at full capacity with 30 women right now, Girtman said.

“It’s expensive to house and feed 30 women a day,” she said.

The shelter assisted 841 women in 2018.

The organization depends on federal funding for The Haven, the Sexual Assault Center and for the payroll of about 90 percent of its employees, Girtman said.

Asked if there was a risk The Haven might have to lock its doors, she said, “Absolutely.”

The Haven is actively looking for donations to help plug the gap. Those wishing to help can go to the organization’s website, www.valdostahaven.org, and donate by PayPal. Girtman said donations can also be arranged by calling (229) 241-7047 or by mailing a check. The Haven’s postal address is P.O. Box 5382, Valdosta, Ga. 31603.

Other regional service organizations say they are all right for the moment but may feel funding pinches soon.

Second Harvest of South Georgia, a food bank which works as an umbrella organization for several charitable groups, runs a Kids’ Cafe program that offers after-school meals and tutoring to children.

Funding for the program is secure through February, said Eliza McCall, chief marketing officer for Second Harvest.

“At this point, Kids’ Cafe is not affected,” but it may be in the future, she said.

Second Harvest doesn’t have any programs specifically targeted at furloughed federal workers but stands ready “to help the community all the time,” McCall said.

The Community Soup Kitchen on North Lee Street, one of Second Harvest’s partners, hasn’t noticed an upswing in customers, said Andy Jones, president of the soup kitchen’s board.

The kitchen, which normally serves 100-150 people a day, doesn’t take federal funds, getting all of its money through donations, he said.

“I don’t think (the shutdown) has affected us at all,” he said, though they might see more customers asking for help if the situation continues, Jones said.

The federal shutdown came about when Congress and President Donald Trump couldn’t agree on a new federal budget, with Trump’s insistence on billions of dollars for a Mexican border wall at the center of the dispute. Many government agencies are either closed or working on reduced staff, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.