Budget, staff issues hit rape crisis center

AUGUSTA – State budget cuts mean the resources of a central Maine rape crisis center have been stretched thin in recent months, and its administrators are hoping new volunteers will step forward to help out.

“We’re in desperate need of volunteers,” said Donna Stickler, executive director of the Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center, which provides hospital advocates trained to support a victim during a medical exam, support groups and a crisis hot line. “We really can’t do this work effectively without their help because our resources are so limited.”

Part of the center’s annual state funding for “violence intervention and prevention” was cut by half this year. The center also was supposed to get $8,500 to train volunteers to answer the center’s telephone hot line.

“That funding allows for us to have more experienced trained people to provide service specifically to callers who have mental-health related issues or concerns,” she said.

The center needs three volunteers on duty to answer the more than 1,000 calls it receives each year from southern Kennebec, Knox and Waldo counties.

“A survivor may wake up in the middle of the night and have a flashback and know they can call somebody who will listen to their story and believe them,” said Cathy Ashland, 48, a six-year volunteer and crisis center board member. “That’s a big piece of this.”

With the loss of three longtime volunteers, the center is looking for new workers. A 42-hour training session is scheduled to begin in September. Training is free if candidates agree to volunteer for a year’s term. Volunteers must pass a background check and an interview before they can begin answering calls.

“I was one of those committed to this for one year,” Strickler said. “Eighteen years later, I’m still doing the work. It’s certainly challenging in the respect that it’s sad work. But also it’s very fulfilling work. Truly, I continue to believe we make a difference in the lives of those people who are affected but this horrible form of intimate violence.”