Hope Harbor Capital Campaign

Eastern Shore Coalition Against Domestic Violence is the only place on Virginia's Eastern Shore where survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence can turn when they need help.

Help us expand our services and continue our legacy of sheltering survivors by supporting our Hope Harbor capital campaign.

Hope Harbor will be the future home of our emergency shelter, our administrative and advocacy office and our donation center.

ESCADV purchased the property that will house Hope Harbor in August of 2021. The property has 3 buildings on 5 acres and is in Onancock, Virginia. When we purchased it, the site had been sitting vacant for several years. Pipes had burst, the roofs were badly damaged and the windows were leaky. We had our work cut out for us, but we were ready for the challenge.

We undertook a capital campaign to fund the project with a goal of $1.7 million. So far, we have raised roughly $810,000.

We’ve made significant progress on the property and our new emergency shelter is set to open in June. Next, work will begin on our administrative and advocacy building.

Our admin and advocacy building will house our 10 staff members, including 6 advocates who work directly with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, but it will also give us space to provide critical client services. This building is where our SANE suite will be located. We will have an exam room where a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner can perform Physical Evidence Recover Kits for survivors of sexual assault, as well as a room where a guest who accompanied a survivor can wait or where law enforcement can do interviews with survivors.

The admin and advocacy office will also have a food pantry where clients not staying in the shelter can get food for themselves and their families. In addition to that, we’ll have a washer and dryer where clients not staying in the shelter can do their laundry. This will help survivors avoid having to go to the laundromat, which is very public and can be a risk to their safety.

The new admin and advocacy office will also have a dedicated conference room, which will allow us to hold larger volunteer trainings. Another benefit of the new building is that each advocate will have their own office, currently advocates are sharing offices which can make it difficult to have a private place to talk with clients.

We serve about 300 people a year, answer 250 hotline calls and shelter about 150 people each year. We provide an emergency shelter, a 24/7 crisis hotline, legal advocacy, transportation assistance, housing assistance, case management, individual counseling, safety planning, hospital and courtroom accompaniment and so much more to men, women and children impacted by domestic violence or sexual assault. Half of our clients are children.