“ You know, our story here is pretty hard to tell. People don’ t want to hear about abuse, they don’ t want to hear about neglect and they definitely don’ t want to hear about sexual abuse. It’ s very hard to tell to a group of individuals that it has an impact in some way, shape or fashion.“
She said it was really important to know that it happens.
“ It happens way too often,” she said.“ And it’ s something very important to talk to our children about.“
She said they needed to know that it was OK to speak up and it was always OK to tell an adult. She said most of the time, the perpetrator was someone that they trusted.
“ I can tell you, probably at least 60 to 70 % of the parents that I see that come through, say that something like this has happened to them and they never had the courage to tell.”
She went on to say that courage was something children needed to be taught to have.“ Be courageous enough to speak up.“ She said over the last years, the numbers of cases have been increasing and she thinks it’ s because the community is more aware about Hero House.
“ I think people are speaking up about it,” she said.
She said they serve children as young as 3 all the way up to 18, as far as the interviews go. She said they do medical exams from infancy all the way up to adults.
“ Prior to us opening our medical part in October 2020, our law enforcement and our victims would have to go to Thomasville or Valdosta,” she said.
She also said, since they’ ve opened, they’ ve helped cover Thomasville every once in a while. They also have helped the Tifton CAC get their facility up and running, and also helped the Valdosta CAC to get their medical part up and running.
She said the community has supported Hero House financially and also with volunteers.
“ It’ s what keeps me going. This is my 36th year of some sort of social work. Your heart has to have a reason to keep going when it comes to this kind of work. It can be very discouraging.“
She said the people that she was surrounded kept her going.
The building that Hero House has been operating out of, temporarily, is going to be integrated into the new facility. Construction to start that process began in February.
She said she learned when she worked at DFACS, if she reached out, this community came through.
“ It’ s overwhelming what people will do for our community and I’ m just proud to be a part of it.”
Hero House has really grown into something good for this community, she said and added that she and her staff were very grateful for everything that they had done for the center.
The First Presbyterian Church saw a need, 24 years ago, she said and has been a huge support for them along the way.
“ So our gratitude is enormous for this community,” she said and added that they continue to need the support of the community.
She said they have been very frugal with their money and they have taken the donations that they have received over the last four years to start the expansion process.“ It’ s been a long time coming,” she said. She said her board members have played a tremendous part and saw the need for growth, for more room, and just to be able to offer better services.
24 MoultrieScene APRIL 2025