Ellen Siler has devoted her career to assisting victims of domestic violence.
Fourteen of those have been at Hubbard House, the first domestic violence shelter in Florida and founded in 1976.
The center provides programs and services to more than 6,000 women, children and men annually in Duval and Baker counties, including housing more than 1,000 a year at its emergency shelter.
Services include day care, education, counseling and food and shelter for victims.
Siler is Hubbard House’s CEO and has stories, both good and bad, of her experiences assisting victims.
“We cry a lot,” she said of herself and some of the 75 staff members. “It can be an emotional thing, but you can’t take it home with you.”
The public awareness campaign is an ongoing effort to reach victims and potential donors and volunteers. There’s always a need for volunteers, including attorneys looking to assist in pro bono court cases.
For the victims, it’s a matter of entering the system so the system can help. Patterns of domestic abuse fatalities have been studied for several years and Siler said the trend showed that 71 percent of those killed never called police.
“The system hasn’t had an opportunity to intervene,” she said. “We have to reach them.”
Numbers were also proportionately high in the African-American community, she said, but the reason isn’t certain. Future studies and task forces will delve into the issue for answers.
Siler likes to see the letters, emails and phone calls of victims helped by Hubbard House.
It’s those she doesn’t hear from that concern her.
“The worst is when you have a woman, a family go out for groceries and then never come back,” she said. “You just never know.”
In the everyday role, Siler runs the organization, contacts donors and continues relationships, but doesn’t always have an opportunity to interact with those in the shelters, although she will visit the day care center when she “needs a fix” to be more hands-on with Hubbard House’s patrons.
“This is what I was meant to do,” Siler said. “This job can’t just be a job. It has to be a passion.”
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