Shelter campaign to be announced

The capital campaign to raise $990 thousand to meet Safe Harbor’s goal for Oconee County’s first shelter protecting adults and children from domestic abuse will become official this week in Walhalla. At 9:30 Friday morning, Safe Harbor’s capital campaign is to be announced in the second floor training room at the Oconee Sheriff’s Department. The fundraising goal of $990 thousand is sought to cover the cost of a facility, as well as three years’ operations and program expenses to insure the shelter is sustained long-term. The anti-domestic violence organization has a contract for a facility in Seneca that is to become the shelter. Once operating, the shelter is to be staffed with a full-time manager, full-time counselor, and rotating relief workers for evenings and weekends. The hope is to have a shelter opened by 2015, or sooner.