Avalon Uncertain About Future For York Clients

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Sarah Meacham, executive director at Avalon, challenged York County’s Board of Supervisors during their budget discussions to give as much support to battered and homeless women as they do to homeless animals.

For their recently adopted 2012 budget, the county will give a total of $68,231 to the Peninsula SPCA and the Heritage Humane society combined, which is level funding compared with the current year. In the same budget, they have whittled funding for Avalon, which provides services and shelter for domestic and sexual violence survivors in the Triangle, to $3,953. This cut is leading Meacham to consider whether Avalon’s support to York residents should be reduced, a plan that Board Chairman George Hrichak said is understandable.

Over the last year, Avalon sheltered 61 York women and children who accounted for 22 percent of the total population sheltered by the nonprofit. Avalon spent $116,000 giving the 61 residents a temporary place to stay. Last year York County contributed $7,400 to the nonprofit, which represents about 0.4 percent of the agency’s annual operating budget.

One York resident staying at Avalon costs about $1900, based on the above figures. York’s 2012 contribution would help Avalon serve two people.

When asked about the reduction in funding to Avalon, Hrichak explained to WYDaily that the Board believes “it is not the government’s place to support nonprofit organizations… it is the citizens’ responsibility privately to support nonprofits.” The Board plans to completely defund these agencies by next year, he said.

Meacham addressed the Board at their public hearing on the budget. She asked the Board to move Avalon under the funding category of public safety. “Without available services to help the families we serve, York County will incur increases in the costs law enforcement, prosecutions, emergency medical treatment, and emergency provision of shelter through the Department of Human Services,” Meacham told the Board when explaining her suggestion.

Funding for the SPCA and the Heritage Humane Society falls under the animal control category in York’s budget, and is considered a contractual service. County staff reviews funding requests from the two agencies each year and evaluates whether the request is reasonable, then makes the funding suggestion to be adopted by the Board. Both agencies, like Avalon, are nonprofits.

The Peninsula SPCA shelters homeless animals on the Peninsula and houses all of the stray or abandoned animals that are picked up by local animal control. The Heritage Humane Society has a similar role, and James City County’s animal control office is housed in the Humane Society building.

Avalon funding is considered a contribution in York County, not a contractual service, and is currently listed under the human services category, according to the county budget.

Meacham finds herself in a tough position regarding York County’s funding decision, she told WYDaily in a recent interview. “Without funding, we can’t serve the county at the same level.”

When it comes down to considering whether to assist a battered woman, possibly with children in tow, because she is a York County resident, Meacham runs into a dilemma. “These are women who need help,” she said. “Can we really turn them away?”

The shelter is always full. The circumstance Meacham doesn’t want to see happen is a York resident is welcomed into the shelter and Avalon needs to turn away a James City County or Williamsburg resident instead, she said.

James City County’s budget allocates $49,500 to Avalon in 2012, level funding with the previous year, and Williamsburg’s budget funds the agency at $18,700, an increase over the previous year. Both localities contribute less to Heritage Humane Society than to Avalon (they do not fund the SPCA).

Hrichak would understand if Avalon decided to reduce service to York County residents. “Each organization’s got to do what they’ve got to do,” he said. As for where battered women in the county should turn for service if Avalon does limit its intake, he said, “there are different organizations in the area to help [the women]. If there is more need, then someone would serve it, and fill the need.”

According to the York-Poquoson Department of Social Services Social Work Supervisor Tiffany Gordon, when a woman calls her office looking for assistance with domestic abuse her staff refers them to Avalon, the Colonial Services Board or the Victim Witness Assistance Program. If children are involved and the case warrants it, her staff may involve Child Protective Services as well as making referrals to other appropriate agencies.

When asked why the Board chose to give so much funding to animal sheltering organizations compared to a program that shelters women and children, Hrichak said, “that doesn’t make sense. It seems our priorities are off.”