Volunteers
8 • Philantlm^yJournal of North Carolina
Lending a hand
Pet care helps
battered women
In an effort to end abuse of ani
mals and women, an animal
rights group is helping battered
women by providing foster care
for their pets.
By Ealena Callender
For Lisa Finlay, the woman’s
story is a familiar one.
The woman, who has suffered
from abuse at the hands of her hus
band has finally decided to leave.
Although she had considered leaving
before, she stayed because she was
worried about what would happen to
her four cats if she left them behind.
“She hadn’t left because she was
afraid he would do something to the
cats,” says Finlay,
director of
Feminists for
Animal Rights.
In response to
situations like this,
the Triangle
Chapter of
Feminists for
Animal Rights has
started a program
to provide care for
pets belonging to
battered women.
Through CARE -
the Companion
Animal Rescue
Effort - volunteers
provide foster
homes for the ani
mals.
Feminists for
Animal Rights
started CARE as
part of its mission to end abuse of
women and animals. The organiza-
hey unfortunately
think that we are focusing
on the animals rather
than the women, which is
not at all the case. What
we are trying to do is help
the woman get through a
really difficult situation.
USA FINLAY
director. Feminists for
Animal Rights
SOCIAL SERVICES
tion conducts letter-writing cam
paigns, holds demonstrations and
conducts workshops to educate peo
ple about issues concerning the
rights of women and animals.
“We’re trying to make people
more aware of the connections
between different kinds of violence,”
says Finlay.
Often, Finlay says, a relationship
with a pet becomes significant to
women who have been isolated from
family and friends by an abusive
partner.
“Recognizing the importance of
the relationship, the batterer will use
that as a way to
harm the woman,
recognizing that if
he hurts the animal,
the woman is going
to be hurt,” says
Finlay. “It’s also a
way of saying,
‘You’re next.’”
When they
decide to leave,
women in this situ
ation must consider
what will happen to
their pets.
“'They know that
if they leave, the
animal will be
severely abused or
neglected,” says
Elizabeth Randol, a
CARE volunteer
and graduate stu
dent at N.C. State
University studying the connections
between different forms of oppres
. i i 1 4
Helping hands
Ei^ty-two percent of nonprofits
responding to a survey by The
Nonprofit Times reported using
volunteers.
July 1995
Lisa Finlay, seen here with her pets, Rosie (on right) and Time (on left) is the director of Feminists For
Animal Rights, a volunteer organization that works to end the oppression of women and animals.
Photo Courtesy of Lisa Finlay
sion. ‘“They need to find a place that
can take care of the companion ani
mal.”
Activists say that many battered
women have little money and few
choices when they leave, so finding a
safe home for their pets can be diffi
cult.
CARE works to make it easier for
women to take that step.
Women are often referred to
CARE throng organizations such as
the Orange/Durham Coalition for
Battered Women. CARE accepts any
type of domestic animal, including
dogs, cats and birds. Since last year
when the program started, about 10
animals have been placed in foster
care.
About 20 volunteers have signed
up to care for animals. Once an ani
mal is placed, the foster care volun
teer provides food and CARE pays
for veterinary care.
Program leaders say they have
received a great deal of support from
the community. But they say peopie
often don’t understand the connec
tion between the abuse of women
and the abuse of animals.
“They unfortunately think that
we’re focusing on the animals rather
than the women, which is not at all
the case,” says Finlay. “What we’re
trying to do is help the woman get
through a really difficult situation.
We’re trying to help animals but
we’re trying to help women too.”
By helping the animals, volun
teers say, CARE helps battered
women.
“Ultimately, by giving an avenue
to the animal, you’re giving an
avenue to the woman,” says Leslie
Mann, a CARE volunteer who helps
place animals, in appropriate foster
homes.
Still a young program, one of the
major challenges CARE faces is sim
ply letting people know about its ser
vices.
“I’ve heard from women who say,
‘If I only knew you were there, I
would have used you,”’ says Mann. “I
think we’re moving in the ri^t direc
tion but, like any new program, we
need more volunteer support.”
Volunteers say they need help
from more veterinarians and bat
tered women’s shelters to let women
know that the foster care service is
available. Veterinarians, for exam
ple, can look for signs that animals
are reacting to domestic violence and
provide information about the pro
gram to the owner.
For information about Feminists
for Animal Ri^ts or CARE, call Lisa
Finlay at (919) 286-7333.
Red Cross takes on mental health rehef
For decades, Red Cross volun
teers have sped to disaster
scenes to tend to the physical
needs of victims. Now, they’re
also tending to emotional and
psychologic^ needs.
By Susan Gray
Joyce LiBethe sounds ebullient.
She has the excited-yet-exhausted
tone in her voice of a person who has
spent the day helping victims of a
disaster. And she has.
The American Red Cross volun
teer is speaking from New Orleans,
where thousands of people have
been left homeless following torren
tial downpours and flooding.
But LiBethe, a Charlotte resident,
is not a nurse or doctor. She doesn’t
know how to suture a wound or per
form CPR. She’s a psychologist.
And she’s one of the American
Red Cross’s new line of mental
health volunteers - licensed mental
health workers who trail medical
workers to disaster scenes to relieve
victims’ emotional and psychological
suffering.
“Finally, people are realizing that
SOCIAL SERVICES
[mental health relief] is important,”
says LiBethe, who has stuped criti
cal incident stress. “People in disas
ters experience a great deal of
stress.”
Following the widespread
destruction in 1989 by Hurricane
Hugo, which hit populations from
Puerto Rico to North Carolina, the
American Red Cross agreed to cre
ate a mental health volunteer arm
for its services throughout the U.S.
It established the Disaster Mental
Health Services in 1990.
“For a very long time, it appeared
to those of us who were at disasters,
there were needs that went beyond
the basic physical needs - shelter,
place to eat, place to sleep,” says
Beverly Clayton, preparedness asso
ciate for the national office of the
American Red Cross in Washington,
D.C.
'The mental health service func
tions like that of the Red Cross med
ical health service. Professional men
tal health workers - licensed social
workers, psychologists, psychiatrists
and family counselors - sign up as
volunteers. TTiey receive special dis
aster relief training from the Red
Cross. And then they go on-call for
disasters.
LiBethe, who has a private psy
chology practice, began volunteering
a year ago. Her first duty, was help
ing out at the scene of last year’s
USAir plane crash in Charlotte. She
worked at the crash site while bodies
were removed, then camped out at a
hotel where USAir put up victims’
family members.
“I did debriefings [therapeutic
talk sessions] in the hotel,” LiBethe
Look for HUGO, page 9
Volunteers to help the
homeless
To recognize Homeless
Month in North Carolina,
the Homestock Festival will
be held in Raleigh July 8 and
9 at the parking lot across
from the Legislative Office
Building on North Salisbury
Street. Volunteers are asked
to bring blankets or card
board and dinner or break
fast. Call, (919) 552-2636.
United Way boosts
1996 Olympics
United Ways will help to
plan celebrations and cere
monies for the arrival of the
Olympic Flame for the 1996
summer games. "The
involvement of local United
Way organizations through
out America is a wonderful ,
opportunity to make this a
true grassroots effort," says
United Way of America
President Elaine Chao.
Change of address
for volunteer lines
Hopeline, a United Way
agency in Wake County, has
changed phone numbers.
The new numbers for its vol
unteer phone lines are as '
follows: HopeLine's Crisis
Line, (919) 231-4525; Teen
TalkLine (919) 231-3626;
and PhoneFriend, (919)
231-3939.
American Red Cross
responds
In response to last month's
tropical storm Allison, the
American Red Cross has
opened 50 shelters across
northern Florida and
Alabama. To help victims of
the storms or other disasters,
call (800) HELP-NOW or
(800) 257-7575 (Spanish
language).
Volunteer attorneys are nominees
Durham attorney Judith
Siegel has been nominated
for the North Carolina Bar
Association's 1995
Oustanding Legal Services
Attorney Award for her work
as a full-time volunteer
lawyer with the North
Central Legal Assistance
Program. Raleigh attorney
John "Jay" Butler and
Durham attorney Craig B.
Brown are nominees for the
association's Pro Bono
Service Award. The awards
were scheduled to be pre
sented at the association's
annual meeting June 15.