STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
It started in 1991 with five Wood River Valley women who took it on themselves to assist a teenage girl who had been sexually assaulted.
The five women—Char Roth, Julie Caldwell, Eve Hart, Cally Huttar and Vicky Starr—determined that no woman should suffer abuse. And so they launched an organization with 20 volunteers who staffed a hotline and support group.
Today The Advocates is a power house in the valley, assisting women and children who are escaping domestic violence, elevating women through classes that teach them skills for success and empowering teenagers to stand up for a school, a community and even a world without bullying.
The Advocates helped 425 adults and 200 children last year alone.
The myriad of programs The Advocates now conduct cost money, and that’s why the upcoming Black and White Soiree is so important.
“It’s our biggest source of fundraising, along with donations and grants,” said Danielle Andrews, the organization’s director of communications. “It provides nearly a quarter of the programs.”
The Advocates’ 2018 Black and White Soiree will be held 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 22, at Trail Creek Pavilion.
The Soiree—the 22nd—will be an elegant evening combining dinner and cocktails with live and silent auctions. And this year’s affair will include a talk by a client who has benefitted from The Advocates’ services.
All will be capped by party music from Boise’s Big Wow Band.
The silent auction is being brought back after a few years’ absence. And the live auction packages will include a weeklong trip for two to Provence, a full weekend in San Francisco and a weeklong visit to Cortina, Italy.
The Advocates built a safe house in 1999 that can hold up to 20 women and children. It started The Attic thrift store in 2003—the store provides about 20 percent of the organization’s funding. And The Advocates added a second shelter known as The Annex that could take families with pets in 2006.
Just recently, it added a transitional home for families working towards permanent housing.
It also offers support groups and counseling, as well as a Green Dot Bystander Intervention program that teaches high school students techniques for defusing situations that could turn into bullying or even sexual assault.
“We do so many different things for the individuals who come to us and for the community, as well,” said Andrews. “What sticks out to me in my three-plus years of working for The Advocates is how important our work in the schools is. Teaching our children about healthy relationships is the only way to break the cycle of abuse.”
Tickets for the Black and White Soiree are $175 per person, available online at https://www.theadvocatesorg.org/shop/soiree-tickets/
For information, contact Danielle Andrews at 208-788-4191 or Danielle@theadvocates.org