May 10, 2017 – Many of the partner agencies we work with across our region provide many different kinds of support to those in their local communities. Springhaven, Inc. in Elizabethtown is just one agency that is working hard to provide more than just food to those they serve.
Springhaven is a domestic violence program that serves victims and their children from Breckenridge, Grayson, Hardin, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, and Washington County. Gina House, a Glendale native who now lives in Hodgenville, has been working at Springhaven since September 2014. As the House Advocate, she is responsible for ensuring the shelter, which holds around 25 people, is running efficiently and effectively. This includes making sure all of the residents have a healthy, nutritious meal each day.
Each month Gina orders food from FAKH, picks it up from our warehouse, and uses it to prepare foods on the USDA menu she has planned out. But Gina’s favorite part of her job is “giving the residents the tools they need to be successful and seeing them succeed.” As part of the food assistance offered to them, residents are also offered a “Healthy & Nutritional Cooking” class to help them learn how to prepare healthy meals for themselves and their families.
But Springhaven provides more than just food assistance to those in the eight counties they serve. The agency also offers programs to assist with academic stability, self-esteem, parenting, job search & resume writing, re-location, and self-sufficiency. When asked how these programs impact the residents at Springhaven, Gina said, “They help teach them how to have a better perspective on life, be self-sufficient, and live a violence free life.”
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