Fortunate Accident Inspired Shelter

The people at Haven Hills saved her life.

That’s how a 48-year-old victim of domestic violence named Krista describes the help she has received from the 25-year-old San Fernando Valley shelter for abused women.

Krista, who is still being stalked by a former boyfriend and doesn’t want her last name printed, found Haven Hills after a friend told her about the West Valley center. “I was emotionally killed,” she said. “I’m coming back to life with the help of Haven Hills.”

This year, Haven Hills received a $5,000 grant from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, the newspaper’s seasonal fund-raising drive.

The money was used to help expand operation of its Domestic Abuse Response Team, which works with Valley divisions of the Los Angeles Police Depart- ment.

“Individual support from people is the difference from being here and not being here,” said Betty Fisher, executive director of Haven Hills.

The nonprofit organization relies heavily on volunteers and operates on a $1.8-million annual budget, much of which is underwritten by government service contracts. But about a third of the budget is covered by community support, Fisher said.

Haven Hills’ start came by accident in 1977.

Members of the Canoga Park Women’s Club needed to perform a community service to maintain its status with a women’s club federation. So club leaders decided to screen a movie on domestic violence, Fisher said.

“They didn’t think there was a problem out where they were. But they put a little blurb in the newspaper. They were surprised when 200 people -- service providers, police, social workers -- showed up, thinking that somebody was starting something they could refer women to,” Fisher said.

So the Canoga Park women went to work and created the shelter, which today includes a 30-day crisis program with 36 beds that handles about 165 women and 260 children a year; an 18-month transitional living and employment program that helps 32 women and 73 children annually; a 24-hour crisis hotline that answers nearly 23,000 calls a year; and programs for children.

Krista credits Haven Hills’ counseling clinic with motivating her return to college. She is studying to become a chemical-dependency counselor. And when she begins drawing a paycheck, she intends to become a financial supporter of Haven Hills, she said.

For now, “There’s a bag of clothes in the back of my car that I’m taking them,” Krista said.

The Times Holiday Campaign was established in 2000 and is a part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

The McCormick Tribune Foundation matches the first $700,000 raised at 50 cents on the dollar, and the foundation and The Times absorb all administrative costs.

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HOW TO GIVE

Donations (checks or money orders) supporting the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File No. 56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986. Please do not send cash. Credit card donations can be made on the Web site: www.latimes.com/holidaycampaign.

All donations are tax-deductible. Contributions of $25 or more will be acknowledged in The Times, unless a donor requests otherwise. Acknowledgment cannot be guaranteed for donations received after Dec. 18. For more information about the Holiday Campaign, call (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771