Shelter for Battered Women Gets a Face Lift

The women come with blackened eyes and chipped teeth to cubbyhole apartments that often look just as battered.

But a 37-year-old, one-time motel that houses the San Fernando Valley’s only shelter for women who flee abusive husbands is receiving a $10,000 face lift from Valley businessmen who say they were embarrassed by its appearance.

Eighty volunteers from area real estate offices, construction firms and landscapers are painting, plastering and planting at Haven Hills shelter in Canoga Park in a four-day project that will end Saturday.

It is the most extensive refurbishing of the shelter, which has operated at capacity since opening five years ago. Launched by the Canoga Park Women’s Club, the shelter relies on donations to stretch grants from the government and charitable organizations. It has a yearly operating budget of $400,000.

Safe Place to Stay

“We didn’t want women who have been battered and beaten to show up and take one look at this place and turn around and go back to the place they walked away from,” said Bob Henn, a Sherman Oaks real estate salesman who is helping with the repairs.

That has occasionally happened, though most women are glad to have a safe place to stay for a while, Haven Hills counselor Lynn Moriarty said. She is one of several shelter staff members who help prepare battered women for independent living during the 30 days they are allowed to stay at the shelter.

“We were very surprised and delighted when they called and said they wanted to do this for us,” Moriarty said of the cleanup. “This certainly will be much more pleasant for the women and their children to come into a fresh and clean environment.”

‘Sad to See’

Residents have temporarily moved out of Haven Hills’ six small apartments during the cleanup. The shelter’s location is kept secret to protect the women and children who are staying there.

“It was very sad to see some of these women when we first came,” said Peter Thomas, a Northridge real estate agent who is helping coordinate the repairs through the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors.

“You don’t know the extent of how they’ve suffered until you come here. We want this place to be uplifting to them. We want them to feel wanted, to feel special.”

Carole Parker, a Northridge real estate saleswoman, said the group plans to return next year to install air conditioning and new flooring at the shelter. Long-range efforts might include helping with additional Haven Hills living space elsewhere in the Valley, she said.

“You can see the changes that take place in these gals after they’ve come here,” Parker said Thursday. “They do miracles here.”