Agency now has half the number of emergency beds for victims of domestic violence.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Faced with declining revenues and increasing costs, Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley has closed one of its two emergency shelters for battered women – one that was located in South Bethlehem, according to this report in The Morning Call. The formerly secret location at 702 E. Sixth St. has been put up for sale. It needed $100,000 in repair work and had become too inefficient to operate, John Toner, Turning Point’s development director, told the newspaper. While cutting its number of emergency shelter beds in half, the agency also laid off nine employees. Nonetheless, the agency pledged to maintain the same level of service. Other providers of service to women seeking refuge from abusive relationships are skeptical.
40.608471
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702 E 6th St, Bethlehem, PA
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Three homicides since March have left three women and an unborn child dead, plus three boyfriends charged with the killings
Three homicides in just four months have turned 2011 into a very deadly year for Lehigh Valley women - and a local agency wants other potential victims to find safety before it’s too late. “It’s just headline after headline of intimate partner violence, deadly abuse. It’s very serious. It doesn’t get more serious than this,” said John Toner, director of development of Turning Point, which assists thousands of domestic violence victims in Lehigh and Northampton counties every year. Turning Point fields 4,000 calls to its 24/7 hotline (610-437-3369) and shelters about 650 people a year. Some seek help when they realize "they need to get out of the house to a safe place," said Toner. Trisha Sadler, 29, didn't make it. Police found her …
Martha Cox Popichak
8:06 am on Thursday, August 4, 2011
It is too bad that this long-time safe haven for women in danger is unable to remain open. more ›