Mission

Family Refuge Center is a community-based domestic violence project serving Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Mercer, and Monroe Counties in southeast West Virginia. We are committed to ending physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in families. We encourage and promote healthy family life based on mutual respect and support for all family members.

Services

Today, Family Refuge Center is a comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault project which serves the tri-county area with a shelter, advocacy office and administrative offices in Lewisburg and outreach offices in Pocahontas and Monroe Counties, as well as in Western Greenbrier County. FRC operates five locations in three counties.

Domestic violence services include a 24- hour hot line, temporary shelter, empowerment counseling, legal advocacy, assistance and advocacy with community resources, information and referral, prevention education, support groups, adult basic education and vocational planning, children’s groups and activities, a summer day camp, a STOP team, tutoring, and children’s advocacy.

Sexual assault services include legal advocacy and court accompaniment, information and referral, crisis intervention, support groups, a SART team, child sexual abuse investigation, parent education and support.

Prevention and community education services include school programs for all grades, speakers for community education and church groups, and in service training for medical and other service providers.

History

In 1978, a group of Greenbrier and Monroe County residents who were interested in organizing on behalf of women met and began what was to become the Family Refuge Center. They identified domestic violence as a problem which deeply affected the lives of women and children in the area. They documented the need for shelter services for battered women: a domestic violence project offering safe space, counseling, advocacy, and community education was begun when salary for one staff member and minimal operating expenses were funded in 1979.

In 1980, the Family Refuge Center was incorporated as a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Additional funding was found for a shelter manager, and the first temporary shelter was opened in September of that year in Sweet Springs, WV. A larger, more conveniently located shelter was opened in Lewisburg in 1982, and shelter has moved to a new location in Lewisburg since that time.

Family Refuge Center has grown rapidly as a result of several factors. As FRC has become better known in the communities we serve, demand for services has increased. By working closely with other agencies and service providers, FRC provides and accesses a wide range of resources and opportunities for clients while avoiding duplication of services.