YWCA’s downtown shelter gets a bit of a makeover

For its 100th birthday, the YWCA got a facelift to smooth out some wrinkles.

A grant from the Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation afforded new flooring, drapes, a washer and dryer and, paired with other funds, some new beds went into the women’s shelter on Main Street in Lewiston.

Established in 1919, the nonprofit has pushed the twin missions of eliminating racism and empowering women. The rooms for victims of domestic violence used to have cinder block walls and stark colors to greet women who were escaping violence.

Karrie Smith, associate director, said removing the carpet that has been in the rooms for the past 20 years was a priority for her.

“It was just icky and full of dirt, no matter how much we cleaned it,” Smith said.

The unwelcoming wood bunk beds and aged dressers were anything but homey. Smith said the $12,500 grant makes the room look less “shelter-y” and will hopefully make clients feel safe in a strange and upsetting situation.

“We tried to make it as comfortable as possible for them and the kids,” Smith said.

The former plush carpeting showed its stains and age, but the new vinyl looks like wood flooring and is waterproof. The new dressers and decorations make the rooms far more welcoming. The rooms feel like they let more light in and don’t have a smell that can sometimes seep into housing that has seen a lot of occupants. Smith said the decorations and room design are “trauma-informed,” a guideline the agency follows to try to ease a victim out of a difficult situation.

The grant comes at an opportune time as YWCA marks its 100th birthday with a celebration set July 20 at Pioneer Park. Work began to refurbish the rooms at the end of April and is expected to be completed by mid-July. Amanda Wilhelm, director of community engagement, said she spent some time finding the right pricing and is also seeking volunteers to “adopt” a room. Wilhelm said she’d like to see funds raised to buy some incidentals for tenants at the YWCA, like decorations and other nice accessories that the grant wasn’t designed to accommodate.

“We are able to provide hygiene items like a basket. We’d love to have people donate curtains or bathroom rugs … or come paint a room,” Wilhelm said. “It’s so much easier in a shelter to have white everything, but it makes the room feel kind of cold.”

The refurbishment comes at a time when the shelter may be experiencing more use. The Idaho Supreme Court recently struck down a law it found unconstitutional that used to allow law enforcement officers to arrest domestic abusers accused of committing a misdemeanor. The state’s highest court decided the constitution requires that an officer witness a misdemeanor in order to make an arrest, or needs a warrant signed.

Officers could still arrest an abuser if a victim was willing to act as a witness and sign a citizen’s arrest citation.

The decision shook victim advocates across the state as they braced for an influx of clients referred to shelters to escape an abuser that police are unable to arrest. Smith said she has had one client come to the shelter as a result of being referred and the abuser free after committing an offense that didn’t call for incarceration.

“So now an officer has to witness it, well, most domestic violence and sexual assault happens behind closed doors,” Wilhelm said.

Smith said she hasn’t seen an influx of people referred to the shelter. But YWCA is prepared, and the rooms are ready.

“We are definitely expecting that to be a bit busier,” Smith said. “Our first priority is to make sure victims are safe.”

Holm may be contacted at (208) 848-2275 or tholm@lmtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomHolm4.