Household Tree helps Colorado households escape home violence

The one one who cherished that previous Cadillac DeVille greater than Jennifer Brewer was her daughter, Jazmyne. They took the large factor grocery procuring. They took it to Costco.

And for one evening — one lonely, terrible evening in November 2019 — that large DeViille even served as Jennifer’s bed room.

“It was chilly,” recalled Brewer, a single mother in Jefferson County. “It had snowed all evening. The subsequent evening, I went into work and I had no concept the place I used to be going to sleep.”

Brewer had left her husband and residential on the Jap Plains two Thanksgivings in the past due to home violence. A co-worker advisable she search providers and handed alongside an inventory of numbers — together with the contact info for Roots of Braveness, a residential facility for survivors of home violence and people with kids run by Household Tree, a nonprofit group in Wheat Ridge that focuses on homelessness, home violence and baby abuse.

“Household Tree,” mentioned Brewer, who moved to the metro shortly after Thanksgiving 2019, “has been a life-saver to me.”

Because of the group, she discovered a brand new condominium inside three weeks. Household Tree helped her transfer, pack and unload her previous belongings — “even right down to the dishes,” Brewer mentioned — in her new abode. Additionally they helped Jazmyne get enrolled and settled in a brand new college district.

Household Tree, which was created in 1976 to concentrate on baby abuse and home violence, continued to be concerned in all aspects of their lives, whilst the primary wave of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down private contact, for a time, throughout the late winter of 2020.

“It’s been probably the most difficult 20-plus months,” mentioned Scott Shields, Household Tree’s Chief Government Officer. “Nevertheless, our crew, who does the exhausting work day-in and day-out, they’re superb. They saved their eyes on the ball.”

Shields mentioned Household Tree, which runs three 24-7 residential applications, needed to cut back their capability at these amenities to roughly 60% due to coronavirus protocols.

However when Brewer wanted a authorized recommendation for her impending divorce, the group was there. When she wanted an advocate, somebody from the crew was there. When she wanted somebody to speak to, even remotely, Household Tree was there.

“It’s loopy to say it like this,” mentioned Brewer, who’s working full-time with SCL Well being whereas additionally taking courses in Pink Rocks Group School’s nursing program.  “(However) I’m glad that issues occurred like they did. The love that I used to be making an attempt to present to my husband, I get to present to my daughter. She appreciates it 10 occasions greater than her father. All I need on the planet is to be an awesome mother.”