Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Elizabeth Sherrell, center left, and her daughter Michelle Sylestine, center right, of Hope’s Door hold care kit items while standing with Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jay Fondren and Shelby County Community Outreach Officer Debbie Sumrall.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with a local nonprofit to bring some comfort to victims of domestic violence.
The purpose of Hope’s Door, founded and run by Elizabeth Sherrell and her daughter Michelle Sylestine, is to “educate, counsel and empower” women who have been victims of domestic abuse, and they are now doing so by providing the sheriff’s department with “care kits.”
Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Capt. Jay Fondren said Sherrell and Sylestine reached out to them with the idea of having first responders take care kits with them on calls about domestic violence.
“They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a great resource for ladies who are victims of domestic violence, and we believe that you guys who are the first responders can help us deliver [them] where they’re needed,’” Fondren said.
Hope’s Door will be distributing care kits to all the substations around Shelby County for first responders to issue to victims once they arrive on the scene.
The kits include necessities such as blankets, a “blessing bag” with hygiene and non-perishable food, shampoo, conditioner, soap, socks and underwear, burner phones, washing powder and the organization’s information.
The organization is also able to supply gift cards for food and gas, as well as assistance with paying for hotel rooms.
Since its founding in 2014, the faith-based organization has worked mainly out of Shelby County but has done some work in Jefferson County as well. In addition to offering care kits and counseling for victims, it offers training for those who want to better understand what domestic violence is and how they can respond in a situation involving a victim.
Victims are able to receive counseling over the phone, through email and by stopping by the Hope’s Door offices, located in Chelsea. Occasionally, the organization will hold events for affected women and children to have fun and feel better.
“It’s very important for them to feel normal, so we try to have an event that affords them the opportunity to just feel like a normal person, yet in a safe environment.” Sherrell said.
Sherrell’s passion for helping victims of domestic violence comes from her own experience as a victim in her first marriage.
“When I finally came to a point where I felt like I needed to make a break to leave for safety’s sake, I didn’t have very many options, not many people to talk to. And even though I was working within a church, I was not able to find help through them, so it was very difficult and I was on my own,” she said. “And I thought at that time, if I ever get to a place where I’m healed and ready, I’m going to try to help other women who are out there and don’t know what to do, have no one to talk to, don’t know what their options are and need someone to help navigate them through this difficult journey.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Bar Association and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the No. 1 health problem for women in the U.S. is abuse. Four million American women are assaulted by their partner every year.
While pursuing a master’s degree in counseling in 2011, Sherrell wrote “Do You See This Woman?,” a book based on a biblical account of a woman who washed Jesus’ feet while others were telling her to leave. The title provokes the question of seeing a woman who is abused as a statistic or as an actual person who needs help.
Plans for the care kits include outfitting first responders such as firemen and the sheriff’s office with them and even taking Hope’s Door information to churches and businesses to train and inform them.
“Whether you’re in a church small group or the administrator at an office, you need to know how you can respond,” Sylestine said.
