Tides of Change gets a $130,000 boost for Tillamook County survivors
Photo: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The line to get into Pacific Restaurant in Tillamook on the evening of Oct. 24 wrapped around the corner into Henson Plaza. People were there to pick out a handmade bowl, fill it with soup and support Tides of Change, the Tillamook County nonprofit that works with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Before the night was over, they had also heard about a gift that will keep one of the organization’s newest services alive.
Tillamook County Commissioner Mary Faith Bell, who sits on the Tides of Change board, announced from the front of the room that Sheri and Lee Swindler were donating $130,000 to the organization, the Headlight Herald reported.
A gift in a friend’s name
Sheri Swindler explained why. The couple made the donation in honor of Melody, a high school friend who was killed by her husband. When Melody was dealing with domestic violence, Sheri told the crowd, there were no services available to help her. The Swindlers hope the money lets Tides of Change keep doing that work for others.
The timing mattered. Along with the evening’s proceeds, the donation is meant to help sustain Tides of Change’s sexual assault nurse examiner program and keep its shelter open for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.
A program that just got started
The SANE program is new to the county. Sexual assault nurse examiners are specially trained nurses who provide medical care to people after an assault and can collect forensic evidence if the survivor chooses. Before this year, Executive Director Valerie Bundy said, that service wasn’t available in Tillamook County.
Bundy told the room that 11 survivors had asked for the service since it launched, and every one of them was able to meet with one of the local nurses taking part. Then the grant behind it ran out. The program’s funding expired at the end of September, which is why the Swindlers’ gift landed with so much weight.
The broader numbers show how much ground a small staff covers. In the past year, Bundy said, Tides of Change provided more than 11,000 services to 561 survivors in Tillamook County. “11,000 services from four, six, eight advocates at a time is a lot of services,” she said, “so I definitely really appreciate my staff.”
The organization’s free, confidential services include advocacy, safety planning, counseling and support groups. It also runs Pacific House, which it describes as the only confidential emergency shelter in Tillamook County for survivors fleeing intimate partner violence.
Sixteen years of soup
The Soup Bowl itself is a community production. This was its 16th year. Each fall a group of volunteer potters from Clatsop County makes 150 bowls by hand, and local restaurants and home cooks supply soups, breads and desserts for an all-you-can-eat dinner hosted by Pacific Restaurant.
This year’s lineup included the host restaurant’s beer cheese soup, a crowd favorite, along with chili from Main Street Pizza, paprikash from the Sand Dollar Restaurant and Lounge and apple crisp from Alice’s Country Kitchen, among many others.
Bell used her time at the microphone to thank people for turning out during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which runs through October.
How to reach Tides of Change
Tides of Change can be reached at 503-842-9486 or toll-free at 800-992-1679. Information about its programs, volunteering and donations is on the organization’s website.
Anyone experiencing domestic violence can also reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at any hour by calling 1-800-799-7233 or texting START to 88788. In an emergency, call 911.
For an organization that measures its work in thousands of individual contacts made by a handful of advocates, a single $130,000 gift buys time for a program the county didn’t have a year ago.
