NORTHEAST WIS. – Rainbow House Domestic Abuse Services, Inc. announced on Oct. 15 that it has been awarded a $20,000 Domestic Violence Shelter Grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation. The grant is part of the foundation’s national program supporting emergency shelters that serve survivors of domestic violence, with at least one grant awarded in every state each year.

Founded in 1978, Rainbow House has served survivors in Marinette and Oconto counties in Northeastern Wisconsin for more than four decades, expanding in recent years to serve Florence County as well. Rainbow House also works in close co-advocacy with Safe Harbor of Escanaba, Mich., the state funded agency serving neighboring Menominee County, helping ensure survivors on both sides of the state line have access to support.

Rainbow House serves women and children fleeing abuse twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, through crisis line response, safety planning, legal advocacy, children’s services, transitional support and community prevention education, all at no cost to survivors.

The grant will be directed toward essential shelter operating costs, including utilities, heat, property insurance, food, household supplies, hygiene items, children’s needs and facility maintenance. In a rural region where winter utility costs are substantial and philanthropic resources are limited, this kind of flexible operating support allows Rainbow House to serve more survivors, more consistently, and with greater dignity.

“We’re enriching women’s lives by keeping our doors open twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, so a survivor anywhere across our 3,300 square miles of rural Wisconsin and Michigan never has to face her most frightening moment alone,” said Executive Director of Rainbow House Domestic Abuse Services Courtney Olson.

Rainbow House is grateful to the Mary Kay Ash Foundation for its continued commitment to ending domestic violence, and to the local Mary Kay independent sales force members whose letters of support and community partnership helped make this award possible.

About the Mary Kay Ash Foundation

The Mary Kay Ash Foundation was established by Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc. Since 2000, the Foundation’s Domestic Violence Shelter Grant Program has awarded grants to emergency shelters nationwide, with a minimum of one grant awarded per state each year.

Learn more at www.marykayashfoundation.org.