Holiday Fund: CORA helps victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives Holiday Fund: CORA helps victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives (December 01, 2004)

** The Scott Peterson verdict highlights how lethal domestic violence can be; it's the main cause of death for pregnant women in the United States.

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Destinye could easily be dead.

Instead, the outgoing young mother is building a new life with her two daughters at Haven Family House in Menlo Park. After running from a violent husband for months, Destinye found CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse), San Mateo County's only agency focusing exclusively on domestic violence. CORA helped her escape and start a new life.

CORA is one of the agencies the Almanac has chosen to benefit from readers' donations to its Holiday Fund.

Destinye's "never-ending nightmare" began to end with a terrible argument in Los Angeles, when she was pregnant with her third child. Her husband broke her jaw; her daughters were there; she lost the baby; he made her stay in the house for four days. "Then he gave me $2 to take a bus to the hospital," she recalls grimly. "I had to leave the kids."

Fortunately, staff at the hospital recognized the signs of abuse. They pulled her files, and found previous injuries. Police were dispatched to pick up her husband and return the girls to her.

The operation to repair her jaw took 5-1/2 hours. Now her face looks perfect; you could never tell she has been injured.

After months of moving from house to house as her husband pursued her, Destinye was referred to CORA. "CORA helped me so I didn't have to run any more," she says. "It was a blessing."

Destinye and her girls went to a safe house, where she received the range of CORA programs for abused women and their children. "My life started over with therapy and legal advice and getting my GED," she recalls. "They helped me turn my whole life around."

Now Destinye and the girls have just moved into a sparkling, clean apartment at Haven Family House. It is one of eight transitional apartments that Shelter Network has set aside for CORA clients making the transition to new and independent lives.

Starting in January, Destinye will be taking the bus to Skyline College, where she plans to study social work, criminology, and early-childhood education. "I want to be a case manager for victims of domestic violence," she says. Pointing to Rosalinda Cervantes, her case manager, she adds, "I want to be like Rosalinda here."
Confidential services

"Domestic violence is the most under-reported crime in the country," says Melissa Lukin, executive director. CORA, which was formed last year when the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, merged with Sor Juana Ines, a nonprofit performing similar services in the Latino community. "We are the only domestic violence agency in the county."

CORA provides a full range of free and confidential services for people involved with domestic violence: a 24-hour support line; emergency shelter and transitional housing; counseling and support groups; legal services; emergency coordination with county law enforcement during "911" domestic violence responses; children's programs; and community education for different cultures, from Latino to teens.

Last year CORA responded to 4,700 calls on its hotline and more than 1,000 on its legal line, Ms. Lukin says. It responded to 2,500 calls from law enforcement, and helped 189 victims and their children.

"Domestic violence is not only physical abuse," Ms. Lukin says. "It's not just about beating and hitting, it's about emotional abuse -- humiliating, blaming, accusations, controlling... ."

And domestic violence occurs across social, economic, ethnic and cultural lines, Ms. Lukin adds. It is as likely to occur in Woodside and Atherton as East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks; but the poorer communities have fewer resources to deal with it.
Information

CORA (P.O. Box 5090, San Mateo, CA 94402) offers several hot lines: ** 24-hour hotlines in Spanish and English at 312-8515, or 1-800-300-1080 ** Legal Information Line, 259-1855 ** Teen Hotline, 259-1836 ** Teen chat room, www.teenrelationships.org; ** Web site at www.CORAsupport.org

In addition to monetary donations, which can be made through the Almanac's Holiday Fund, CORA needs volunteers. For information, call Karen Pisani at 652-0800, extension 107.

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