December 2021 Newsletter

Who We Are

2021 has been an amazing year at Abigail’s Arms and we are so grateful! One of our major accomplishments this year was the opening of our new Crime Victim Advocacy and Support location on Harvey Street. This building houses our Child Advocacy Center, Non-Residential Case Managers, and our Community Advocacy and Prevention Education teams. We also celebrated seven years of providing emergency residential services to clients who were in harm’s way.  

   Throughout the years we have experienced an increase in clients and in turn increased staff to meet the demand. Abigail’s Arms, never satisfied with the status-quo, has continually sought to attain a higher level of client education and support. Staff continues to step up to provide clients with personal development activities which will enhance a client’s ability to return to the community environment with greater skills to live a healthy whole life.

   Abigail’s Arms continues to provide adult clients: Case Management, Housing and Job Search Assistance, Financial Recovery, Counseling, Life Skills, Healthy Relationships and Parenting Classes, Forensic Interviews, Protective Order Applications and many other supportive services.

   The Child Advocacy Center’s services for children include: Forensic Interviews, Family Advocacy, Case Reviews by law enforcement, medical and mental health professions, child protective services and Therapy/Counseling…play therapy, family therapy, and individual counseling. Services are free and confidential to anyone who has been a victim of a violent crime.

Abigail's Friends

  “I had no idea of the number of abused women and children in Gainesville and Cooke County and the need for a facility to handle their emergency situation. Abigail’s Arms answers the need for a safe and protected environment for them with temporary housing until safe permanent housing can be found.

   This is the reason for our continued support of Abigail’s Arms – Cooke County Family Crisis Center."



Johnny & Mary Lou Leftwich, Dustin Office Machines

Special thanks to local artists, Katie Brinkley and Charles Parlin Jr, for painting the beautiful murals which add so much beauty to the halls in the non-residential facility. Clients and staff are uplifted as they pass through this wonderful artwork.

Special thanks to GAVA who has graciously provided beautiful pieces of art work in various rooms throughout the Crime Victim Advocacy and Support facility.

A Survivor's Story

Hi! My name is “Mikey” I am 10 years old. I was having a hard time and told my friend about it. Man did things go crazy. I had to go live with my grandma for a while and she brought me to a place called abigail’s arms. While I was there there were people who let me talk about what was going on. I got to see them every week to help me not get mad. But the best thing! I got to go ride in a police car and talk on the radio! The lady even answered me back. We went to walmark and the policeman helped me buy stuff me and my little brother and they even paid for it. It was really cool when the policeman showed me all the neet stuff in their cars and all the things on his belt – it was like BATMAN! My grandma says I am doing lots better now so I just wanted to say thank you and tell about what I got to do.

“Mikey” was one of 10 children who were chosen to participate in our Shop with COP program.

CAPE (Community Advocacy and Prevention Education) in Our Schools

We are so proud of this group of young adults. After completing their initial sessions in 7^th grade this group of now Seniors has advocated, fundraised, provided education and truly created a positive change in their community and beyond. Congratulations on your Senior year and go be creators of change for the world! 

Ask Abigail: Where does my donation go?   



   Your financial donations are used in what we call “unrestricted funds”. This means the funds are not tied to grant restrictions and can be used for expenses that grants won’t allow.

 Did you know our grant funding does not allow for clothing, toys, medications or home furnishings? This is just one example of how your financial assistance helps our agency, when a family comes into shelter with the clothes on their backs, we provide for their needs. When they are ready to move out we help them to move out with clothing and basic household items. When a child comes to the Child Advocacy Center and suddenly has to go live with a relative who may not have children, we can help them get set up so the child feels they have a space. Any community donation is used to directly assist the clients who come to us for support and assistance.

All victim services are free and confidential.

How you can help:     

PayPal

Abigail's Arms Website 

Venmo