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December 6, 2007

Center salutes those who help in a crisis

Raymond Billy

JACKSONVILLE — The Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties held a belated celebration Tuesday, honoring members of the law enforcement community at the Norman Activities Center.

Crisis Center Justice Banquet guest speaker state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, was honored for his part in securing needed funding for the Crisis Center; however, the evening belonged to the law enforcement officials of Anderson and Cherokee counties.

“You don’t know how much help that you give the victims by collaborating together with all the partnering agencies and with the Crisis Center,” Executive Director Donald Hammock said. “I’ve been around the state here in the last three years talking to different crisis centers and we’re one of the very few that have such a good working relationship.”

Nichols added kudos of his own.

“Y’all do an amazing work with people and most of our society doesn’t see what you see. It takes a special heart and a special passion to see some of the sad things that I know y’all see,” Nichols said. “You really have an opportunity to touch people’s lives who might otherwise be lost.”

The annual banquet is usually held in October, but — due to uncertainty regarding its financial solvency earlier this fall — was forced to hold off on the dinner.

During the banquet, Hammock took time to thank Nichols for his role in helping the nonprofit organization retain funding.

“Once we found out we lost the funding, we called his office and he sat down with us going through those funding sources to see how he could help us in order to get this funding back. And, he went above and beyond the call to help us,” Hammock said.

Hammock presented Nichols with a plaque in recognition of his efforts to help the Crisis Center and asked him to pass one along to his policy advisor, Steven Albright, for his role in lobbying the Governor’s office.

Nichols returned Hammocks praise.

“It was your past history and how well you have done your work over the years that was really the bright light that would show and the Governor’s office recognized that. His staff called me several times and was very impressed. I couldn’t tell you at the time, but I just felt like you were going to get it (the funding). But, we had to go through the due process,” Nichols said.

After months of negotiations for funding with the Criminal Justice Division of the Governor’s Office, the Crisis Center was granted $159,000 through a discretionary fund, allowing the organization to continue services to victims of sexual assault, family violence and child abuse.

The center was told in July it would not receive that funding from the Victims of Crime Act grant, which resulted in numerous pleas to the Governor’s office from prominent East Texas officials that led to the release of discretionary money.

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