SOUTH SIOUX CITY, neb. (Iowa Media Wire) – A ribbon cutting was held in South Sioux City Thursday for a nonprofit helping people who are impacted by domestic violence.
The South Sioux City Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism helped Haven House officially opened their new location. The nonprofit helps to spread the message of eliminating violence in survivors through empowerment, education, and social services.
Executive Director Debbie Goettsch said that opening a new location is exciting since it has been busy the past month.
“It’s definitely needed,” Goettsch said. “So it kind of came from a 700-square foot office, and we came to over 3000-square foot in our new location. And so back when we were in the 700-square foot, we had five people working out of that and it was so cramped, and we don’t feel like we were giving our clients the confidentiality they needed.”
And if a person finds themselves in a situation where they feel trapped, the biggest goal of Haven House is to decrease the violence in northeast Nebraska.
“We don’t want anybody to live in fear of their lives every day,” Goettsch said. “We don’t want any violence going on in our community, and just having the community support bringing it here, and having a bigger space, and it’s just the referrals are huge. Referrals are what keeps us going here and people know about us and they know that we can help with the services that we can offer.”
Haven House is a safe haven that helps the community when they find themselves suffering from any type of violence.
“Some of the biggest success stories that we have heard out of our survivors’ mouth is that, if Haven House was not here and we didn’t assist them, they probably wouldn’t be alive,” Goettsch said.
Haven House provides are sheltering services, protection order assistance, food pantries, and emergency transportation.
If you or a loved one is found in a violent situation of any type, you can contact the crisis line at 1-800-440-4633, or for more information you can go to https://havenhousefsc.com.