WHAT DO YOU DO?
A Safe Home Volunteer offer a safe place for clients of domestic abuse and their families to stay in an emergency for 1-3 days/night. You provide a completely confidential, safe, no-questions-asked environment. ( A safe home is different than a shelter.)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
A volunteer receives a call from an advocate who asks if you are available that evening to host a survivor (and sometimes her children). If you are available, the advocate or a transport volunteer will bring the client to your home. She is instructed to keep the location confidential for her own safety as well as yours.
If requested, an advocate can bring supplies from our food pantry and personal care closet with items that clients may need while staying with you. These items include food, toiletries, and towels and are donated by generous communities throughout our service area.
After a night or two, when more permanent housing is secured, the advocate will transport the survivor to her new place to stay. At anytime during the client’s stay, you are welcome to contact the advocate on call for any answers or direction you may need.
WHAT IS THE COMMITMENT?
You can decide when or when not to host a survivor, depending upon your availability. It is best to keep the volunteer coordinator updated on any vacations or stretches of time when you absolutely will not be available.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENT?
- Be 18 years of age or older.
- Take the 30-hour training.
- Possess an open, non-judgmental attitude toward survivors of domestic abuse and their situation.
- Complete the application process, and submit a Safe Home Checklist.
- Make a one-year commitment. Exceptions may be made.
- Complete two hours per year of Continuing Education, as required by Iowa law. All hours must be from a training or webinar. (College classes count toward this requirement. A copy of the syllabus with details of the course and textbooks used, the institution’s name, instructor’s name, and degree would be required.)
- Be available to clients while they stay with you for any questions and concerns they have regarding their stay or situation.
- Notify the advocate on call if you need assistance or supplies, to talk about anything, or to confer about client pick-up and drop-off.
- Keep complete and accurate records while clients stay with you and submit any necessary reports to the advocate when they call or when the client is picked up from your home.
- Provide volunteer coordinator with vehicle insurance every six months in case you have to provide emergency transportation
