April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and it’s a crime that can be very underreported, according to Mindy Lohff, executive director for Safe Haven in Shawano.
In 2024, Safe Haven’s shelter housed 58 adults and 63 children, but its outreach went much further, helping a total of 462 people with almost 7,500 services, Lohff said. So far this year, Safe Haven has helped 45 survivors of sexual assault, and of those, 38 of them also endured domestic violence.
“We, at Safe Haven, use the month to do some education,” Lohff said. “We do different events around the community to recognize survivors and their journey, and then bring awareness to the community of the real situations that are going on.”
Among the activities were a presentation at Bonduel High School about human trafficking.
“Human trafficking is a form of sexual violence,” Lohff said. “That was in preparation for the NFL draft. Recognizing that hundreds of thousands of people coming to the area and ample money coming to the area, often sex trafficking follows, as well.”
Safe Haven also posts a number of items to its Facebook page throughout the month about sexual assault and how to get help. There are also signs of sexual assault awareness around Franklin Park as teal ribbons were put up for the month.
Larger ribbons were also put up throughout Shawano with the help of Leadership Achievement Community Engagement and Service. LACES works with Safe Haven on a variety of matters, including sexual assault awareness.
Lohff said Safe Haven has seen an increase in the number of calls regarding sexual assault, with the ascent starting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With sexual assault being one of the more underreported crimes not only locally but nationwide, Lohff attributes the increase more to the courage of survivors coming forward to report and less on the number of people being sexually assaulted going up.
“Sometimes it’s the awareness piece,” Lohff said. “The more that we’re out there, the more that we’re hoping that people will come to Safe Haven for the services.”
Oftentimes, sexual violence and domestic violence go hand in hand, according to Lohff. While Safe Haven works to help everyone they can, having adequate funding can sometimes be a challenge.
“We’re very lucky to have a gracious community to lean into, and I also work with a variety of foundations, so we have diversified funds,” Lohff said. “We’re still battling the reductions of funding from the end of 2024, where we experienced a reduction of $100,000. That’s a big cut for a little organization.”
Safe Haven serves all of Shawano County, and those services extend to the Menominee Reservation. Lohff said the shelter is often at capacity, so some of the funding goes to providing hotel rooms for the overflow and other services.
“Not everyone is looking for shelter,” Lohff said. “Some may just be looking for safety planning or assistance with restraining orders or help with no contacts (orders) or navigating the legal system. We also have support groups and emergency financial assistance, as well.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Safe Haven raising alerts on sexual assault
