Close to $20,000 in grant funding was used recently to spruce up the back yard at the Hope Shores Alliance shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children.

Upgrades included power-washing and painting porches and stairs, replacing overgrown landscaping, painting a security fence, and replacing paths with pavers.

A gazebo and chairs replaced the antiquated yard furniture and a new play set was installed. Donations came from the Alpena Rotary Club, the Community Foundation of Northeast Michigan, the Mary Kay Foundation, and the Besser Foundation.

That work is about more than aesthetics.

Not only are the individuals served by Hope Shores Alliance often forced into homelessness as they escape their abusers, they also are in the midst of some of the most traumatic of human experiences.

Their abuse has often robbed them of not only their physical residence but also their spiritual sense of home, their psychic sense of security.

A pleasant, peaceful, clean, pretty back yard can provide some sense of calm and comfort to those victims.

In our mind, money well spent.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)