Author Archives: GreenHouse17 Staff

Access to nutritious food plays an important role in safety, stability, and long-term wellness after abuse.

Survivors of intimate partner abuse face higher risks of food insecurity when fleeing abuse, making access to nutritious meals essential.

Daily meal services, cooking workshops, a healthy eating support group, and gardening help residents build confidence and skills around food.

“It has given me a greater appreciation for the food we eat — planting, watching it grow, and then harvesting and eating it,” shares a shelter resident.

Nutritional intake assessments by our food and nutrition advocate, Finley Yuttayong, take place soon after coming to the emergency shelter.

“Sometimes I learn that they simply love to cook and would feel more at home helping me feed the house, and sometimes they’ve had years of severe food trauma and need more support with that,” explains Finley.

Food is also a source of connection. Recently, residents and staff have been coming together under the farm pavilion to bake homemade pizzas, made possible by a cob oven
that was built with the help of residents and volunteers.

After attending training on building cob ovens at the Mud Dauber School of Natural Building last year, Ryan Koch, our nature-based healing advocate, brought the vision to the farm.

“We wanted to create more opportunities for people to be outside and enjoy what’s going on in nature,” Ryan shares. “It’s been a joy.”

From gardening to special projects like the cob oven, volunteers help make healing in nature possible for survivors. Current opportunities are listed here.

Celebrating a new federal grant!

A new federal grant of $498,000 over three years from the Office for Victims of Crime will sustain our 24-hour phone-based crisis hotline and expand services to include secure text and chat.

Our Certified Domestic Violence Advocates answer at least 4,000 phone calls to our hotline each year, and survivors are reaching out by text and chat more than ever before.

For many, text and chat are easier ways to communicate. Voice calls are not always practical in crisis, and mobile plans are expensive. When minutes run out, survivors cannot call for support.

“It’s important that our services evolve to meet survivors’ needs,” explains Diane Fleet, our associate director. “The challenge has been how we can provide digital crisis intervention while protecting privacy, confidentiality, and safety.”

This new grant will support the technology and training for secure digital crisis interventions, informed by best practices of the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

This project was supported by Award No. 15POVC-25-GG-01429-NONF awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.

Modeling the Mission!

A longtime charitable event organized by students at Lexington Catholic High School was paused during the pandemic. This spring, a motivated group of students brought it back with a new vision to support survivors.

Emme Peterson, Grace Tibe, and Molly Johnson visited our emergency shelter to learn more about our mission and share their plan.

An airplane hangar would become the fashion runway. Local boutiques would lend clothing, and students would model.

In the weeks that followed, they prepared the event for takeoff. Boutique partners signed on, and in-kind support from Triton Airways and Lundy’s Special Events was secured.

Students modeled curated looks from local shops, walking the runway to music mixed by a fellow student. Family and friends purchased tickets to gather and cheer them on.

Together, they raised more than $5,000 to support the mission.

Altruism Matters

The Economics of Altruism class at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics recently selected our organization as a partner agency.

As part of the course, a team of five students completed an in-depth economic analysis and recommendations for our nonprofit. “The survey results from the students were especially helpful in planning our social media strategies,” shares Chelsey Keesy, our content specialist. “Their feedback gave us insight into how younger audiences want to engage with their communities.”

At the end of the semester, we attended a Grant Award Ceremony and were honored with a $7,500 award, recognizing the students’ work and the impact of this partnership.

Thank you to team members Riley Garrett, Grace Stanley, Ana McClellan, Ashtyn Williams, and Layla Angeles Plakosh, guided by Dr. Gail Hoyt, professor of economics. The project was generously supported by Charles and Valerie Sonsteby and the Davisson/Sonsteby Family Charitable Trust.