Marjaree Mason Center a lifeline for victims of domestic violence

Jessica was 16 when she hid in a closet with her little brother and followed the instructions her mother had secretly scrawled on a piece of toilet paper: Call the police.

Jessica’s father had physically, verbally and emotionally abused her mother for years. The domestic violence was worse when he drank, and it followed a sadly predictable pattern: Abuse, his promise to change, uneasy calm, more violence.

“Finally, it went too far,” Jessica recently told me. “We had to do something.” Her words – spoken with calmness and clarity – echo through my mind as we observe National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

All of her life, Jessica (not her real name) had lived with the chaos born from her father’s abuse. A better life – nurtured at the Marjaree Mason Center – was on the horizon. But Jessica couldn’t yet see it. All she knew at that moment was her father spinning more dangerously out of control.

He had abruptly moved his wife, son, two daughters (Jessica has a younger sister) and himself out of their house. They bounced from a friend to a relative and even slept in their car. He tried to isolate his wife by taking away her phone.

Thankfully, Jessica still had hers, and she dialed 9-1-1 in the closet as cousins distracted her father. Deputies from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office arrested the father and booked him in the county jail.

I am so grateful for all law enforcement in Fresno County. Deputies and police officers make arrests, and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office seeks justice in court. We know an average of 7,000 cases are reported locally each year, and many more go unreported.

The Marjaree Mason Center is a lifeline in many cases. Founded in 1979, it is the only comprehensive domestic violence service agency in Fresno County. The center provides emergency and transitional housing, counseling, and legal services.

Jessica, her mother and her siblings came to the center after her father’s arrest two years ago. They had nothing but the clothes they wore, and at first, they felt jumpy and uneasy at our safe house in Fresno. “We thought he might come in the night,” Jessica says, referring to her father. Security measures at the Fresno safe house – which has 129 beds – eased their minds. Similar security offers protection at our 26-bed safe house in Clovis. Marjaree Mason Center also provides additional housing through HUD funded programs, and in total, we shelter 350 adults and children every day, which translates to more than 127,000 nights of care each year.

Eventually, Jessica’s family began to heal. She and her siblings received counseling, and their mother got help from the center to gain sole custody of the children. Because of legal action, the family no longer faces the return of the father.

During their 18 months with us, Jessica and her family embraced their future. They earned a special place in the hearts of staff and other residents with their positive attitudes and outreach to those around them. Many people cried when they left for their own apartment, but those were tears of happiness. I know this family will do amazing things.

Today, Jessica is a college freshman who plans to become a social worker so she can help abused families. Her mother has returned to school and her sister – once a shy and failing student – has blossomed into a confident scholar and campus leader. The brother is no longer haunted by the memory of his sister’s whispered 9-1-1 call from the closet. Today, he’s a fun-loving, silly second-grader who makes his mother and sisters laugh.

Laughter is a simple pleasure that many victims of domestic violence cannot enjoy. As Jessica explains: “Life becomes so sad. But no more. Today there is gratitude and hope,” she says. “Because of the Marjaree Mason Center, our dreams didn’t die.”