The Ion Center for Violence Prevention participated in the 16th annual Shop & Share event on Saturday, February 10, raising $42,500 in donations to help survivors of personal violence.
(Photo from Ion Center)
During the event, shoppers at Northern Kentucky and Buffalo Trace Kroger locations were asked to choose one or more of the simple grocery items from a list, purchase it, and leave it with Ion Center volunteers as they walked out. The donated items will be used to stock the pantry shelves of the Ion Center’s two area shelters for individuals and families fleeing domestic violence.
At the Ion Center, a survivor is never responsible for the cost of their healing. All services are free and confidential. Programs such as Shop & Share make it possible for agencies across the state, like the Ion Center, to provide these types of services to the people who need it most. In 2023, The Ion Center provided 16,302 safe bed nights for individuals and families fleeing domestic abuse and served 48,906 meals.
In addition, the agency provided 4,080 hours of intervention services, 762 hours of legal/court accompaniment, 641 hours of hospital accompaniment responding to 272 emergency room calls, as well as providing support on 4,125 hotline and text conversations.
(Photo from Ion Center)
“Seeing the community come together on this day to support those who have been impacted by violence is amazing,” said Christy Burch, Ion Center’s CEO. “It’s a remarkable day and the generosity of our community never ceases to amaze us! Once again, we’re overwhelmed by all the love you’ve shown Ion and all the people we serve. Thank you to all of our volunteers, to everyone who donated, and to CraftForce. We truly value and are grateful to everyone who made this year’s Shop & Share a huge success and we’re unbelievably thankful to be a part of such an incredible community.”
This year, the Ion Center partnered with CraftForce for its Northern Kentucky drop-off location.
“We were honored to collaborate with the Ion Center on this incredible endeavor,” said Dustin Grutza, founder/CEO of CraftForce. “There was such an outpouring of support from the community, and we were blown away by the donations. Coming together as neighbors, to help one another, is what it’s all about.”
Ion Center for Violence Prevention
