By Christopher Walsh, 27East.com
During her whirlwind visit to East Hampton Town on Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul visited The Retreat’s Stephanie House Shelter to announce that the state will allocate $575,000 to the nonprofit, which provides safety, shelter and support for victims of domestic abuse.
The money will be used for building improvements and technological upgrades to the shelter and the organization’s East Hampton administrative office.
The governor addressed employees of The Retreat and members of its board of directors on Friday. “This is something deeply personal to me,” she said, according to a statement issued by The Retreat, explaining that her mother dedicated her life to advocating for victims of domestic violence, inspired by her own mother’s experience with domestic abuse.
She added that her mother opened a transitional home for survivors when she was in her 70s, naming it the Kathleen Mary House, after her mother.
Looking around the Stephanie House shelter, she concluded, “When I come to a place like this, replicating my mother’s vision … it warms my heart.”
“We were all thrilled that the governor was coming out and wanted a tour of our shelter,” Loretta Davis, The Retreat’s executive director, said. “She told us about how her mother started one of the first shelters in New York. She knew exactly what we did, and that’s not always the case.
“There’s not a lot of capital-project funding grants out there,” Davis added. “We have two facilities here. The shelter was built originally by the town, and we were able to renovate it in 2017. Now we can do some improvements there and really try to maintain it better.”
The Retreat’s offices are in a donated beach house that was moved to its present location on Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.
“We’re thrilled, because we’re pretty busy,” Davis said, “and you have to make these improvements so clients are comfortable and safe.”
