Chocolate sale to help those in crisis

It's time for the Council on Families in Crisis sixth annual Valentine's Day chocolate sale. The proceeds benefit the shelter for battered women and their children that has helped more than 1,000 families over the years.

For CFC and Moss House, which it operates, Valentine's Day is the marker for one of their local fund-raisers. CFC will once again host their annual Valentine's Day Chocolate Sale. This will be the sixth year for the sale.

According to Martha Sander, Executive Director, the idea for the annual fund-raiser was a suggestion from someone in our community. Sander said the agency was looking for something to do around Valentine's Day to promote love instead of violence in the home. This seemed like a good idea. The first sale was held in 1999 at the City-County Community Center. It was deemed successful and has been repeated every year.

The agency accepts donations of chocolate and baked goods. The chocolate items can be homemade or purchased. Sander said people come looking for pre-packaged chocolates as well as the homemade goodies. Overall, she thinks more people look for the variety of homemade items. Typically, the agency has homemade items such as fudge, brownies, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate balls, chocolate suckers, and molded chocolates. "We really never know exactly what we will have because people can be so creative with their ideas. But one thing is for sure, there are some great cooks in our six-county area!" Sander also noted that they have non-chocolate items for sale as well as sugar-free goodies.

When asked what the agency needed most for the sale to be successful, Sander stated, "We need two things for our sale to be successful. We need donated chocolate and we need people to purchase the goodies!"

Donations of chocolate, either pre-packaged or homemade, can be dropped off at Katherine's Place, 415 N. Main, Nevada, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 10 or Wednesday, Feb. 11.

"We can package and price the goodies so people don't have to worry about that when they bring their donations," Sander said.

The sale will be held on Thursday, Feb. 12, and Friday, Feb. 13, at two locations.

Chocolate will be available at Katherine's Place, 415 N. Main, Nevada, on both days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Goodies will also be available at Woods Supermarket from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Sander noted that free deliveries are available within a three-mile radius of the city. "This is a great way for a boss or business owner to call us up and have some homemade chocolate delivered to their employees. And, of course, every woman loves to get chocolate from her beau."

Proceeds from the event will support Moss House, a local shelter for battered women and their children. The shelter is operational 24-hours a day with a 24-hour toll-free crisis hotline, (800) 398-4271. Sander said the agency serves around 300 families a year and the funds are greatly needed. "Moss House experienced cuts of $20,000 in state funding in 2003 and we know the funds will not be replaced in 2004. This fund-raiser is very important to our agency and a great way to support our work. Valentine's Day is time for love, not violence."

The services the council provides through Moss House have expanded greatly in the thirteen years the organization has been helping Vernon County women. Opened July 1, 1990, as a residential shelter for battered women, Moss House now provides many different services including self sufficiency training, transportation, 24 hour crisis hotline and court advocacy, among others.

Sander says the organizations efforts are important for more than just the physical well-being of the battered women.

"We see the black and blue but there is more to it than that. It's important to provide social support for these women because isolation is a problem, in many cases they find themselves without any support when they leave their partner," Sander said.

Battered women often do not leave an abusive partner because there are emotional ties that keep them from leaving.

"We have to let these women see that the emotions they feel are normal but the violence they accept is not," said Sander. "Our classes and support groups provide social support for the women. We have found them very effective in sustaining independent living."