In the 10 months since coming on board as the Rape and Abuse Crisis Service (RACS) director, Alden Henrickson has learned how complicated the issue of domestic violence is and how complicated it is to fund the shelter.
"As executive director I'm expected to be the face of the organization, but the real work in the trenches is done by our staff," he said.
"We have victims advocates in the field and at the county courthouse. We have counselors at both the shelter and in the field. The shelter is open 24 hours a day. They do the heavy lifting and they are the ones that really make it work. I was with state government for 33 years and felt like I had done what I could there," he said.
"I wanted an opportunity where I could directly give back to the community that I have lived in since 1980, and when this came along, I thought it was good for my background and my expertise and talents."
Henrickson said every day is different at RACS.
"It depends on how full the shelter is," he said. "We can house 36 clients a day, up to 40 if you count kids in cribs. We always have a variety of things to deal with, from making sure clients have bus passes to meeting their food needs. We're tied in with the Central Missouri Food Bank and that was an eye opener to me that the food bank provides the vast majority of food at no cost to the shelter. So some days it's getting the food and some days making sure folks are set up on a safety plan. We have some people who get jobs while they're with us in the shelter, which is gratifying and let's them get back out into society."
Henrickson said there is no limit on how long people can stay, but the average is four to six weeks.
"Last year we were down from the prior year, but this year we're up over 14 percent," he said. "It's complicated to explain why we've had the jump. Heat may be a factor. It could be that the economy is not quite as strong as hoped for."
Henrickson said they had just more than 6,800 bed stays in 2014, more than 9,300 in 2013 and this year they are looking at possibly nearly 7,800.
"I think the one thing that strikes me is the interaction with children," he said. "They want what's best for their children and the most gratifying thing for me is I can see the kids and they want to give you a fist bump or a high five. You realize what you're doing is something to keep them safe."
The RACS shelter has been in service for 16 years and the RACS program has been around for more than 30 years. When Henrickson started last October, he said his goals are to be a caretaker and maintain the level of quality established under Clardy's leadership. He also wants to extend the awareness of the program and the services offered, as well as diversify the organization's funding opportunities. In other words, try to find more ways for the organization to acquire money to its "shoestring" budget.
"It takes a lot of money to run, maintain and staff the shelter and over the last few years our expenditures have exceeded our revenue," Henrickson said.
"I'm looking more into fund development since 75 percent of our money comes from government grants and the United Way. The rest comes from smaller things so we're very dependent on the community to fund operations."