Give the Gift of Hope this Holiday Season
- Bri Camillucci
- Dec 18, 2025
- 2 min read
December 11, 2025
Dear Friends of the Abbie Shelter,
As 2025 winds to a close, I am reaching out to express my deep gratitude for your past support of the Abbie Shelter. This year, donors like you made it possible for our team to answer more than 1,200 calls on our Helpline. We’ve helped over 50 adults and children access safe emergency housing and made more than 1,000 referrals to connect survivors to additional supportive services. We guided 55 victims through the process of requesting Orders of Protection. Our educational presentations reached nearly 1,400 individuals, strengthening the safety net of community members who now know how to recognize the signs and symptoms of abuse.
Your gift to the Abbie Shelter not only supports survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, it also sends a powerful message of hope; hope to survivors that they are seen, heard, and that a safer, healthier life is possible. And hope to our advocates that kind-hearted people see us and stand alongside us in our mission to serve victims of some of the most
horrific crimes imaginable.
Take the experience of a survivor who recently attended an Abbie Shelter support group for the first time: “Thanks for having me last night,” she said the next morning. “It honestly was such an empowering day for me. I woke up today feeling free for the first time.”
“You have shown me what kindness feels like again,” she continued. “Genuine kindness. I felt it the first time when y’all fed me, but more than just the food, it was the little things like one woman putting BBQ sauce on my bun and another giving me coffee. I hadn’t felt genuine care in so long. If you don’t think you are doing great things, please know you are.”
While you read this letter, someone is gathering the courage to come to their first support group or make their first call to our Helpline. Your continued generosity ensures that when they do, we are there, ready to greet them with kindness and fill them with hope.
Help us start 2026 strong by making a tax-deductible, year-end gift today. You can mail us a check or visit abbieshelter.org/donate to donate online. We cannot thank you enough for your life-saving support of our work.
With gratitude,
Kristen Schepker
Executive Director
