Construction of the new headquarters of Fight Abuse in the Home (F.A.I.T.H.), a child advocacy organization combatting sexual abuse, is set to begin following a groundbreaking ceremony on June 26. The ceremony will be held from 5 – 7 p.m. at 390 Rockford Cove Road off of Highway 441 in Mt. Airy.
The Power House will include a “Healing Barn,” which will hold seven therapy rooms, a forensic interview viewing room, a conference room, four staff offices, and a kitchen. An outdoor area for support groups is planned along with a playground.
The new center will cost $3.5 million and will replace the existing Toccoa location. According to F.A.I.T.H. Assistant Director Lisa Robertshaw, the new location was chosen to be centrally located among all four counties of the Mountain Judicial Circuit: Habersham, Banks, Rabun, and Stephens.
Robertshaw explained the history of the organization, detailing that it started in 1995 as a service for domestic abuse victims. In 2002, F.A.I.T.H. added a new service to it’s outreach.
“Sources from Toccoa were saying that we needed to have a child advocacy center, and that’s how we ended up in Toccoa,” she said.”If there’s any allegations that a child has been abused, instead of that child going from DFACS to law enforcement telling the story over and over again to the school system, they all come to the [Power House].”
According to the F.A.I.T.H. website, the Power House was named after the Virginia Wing Power family, who were benefactors to the cause.
The Power House serves an average of 750 victims and their family members each year. Despite numerous additions to the building, Robertshaw said the organization has greatly outgrown the Toccoa location.
Now Habersham was given a F.A.I.T.H fundraising packet explaining the mockup of the Mt. Airy Power House. The new center will accommodate both the increase in clients and the severity of each case, while also providing privacy between overlapping cases.
“Everyone comes for the kid, the focus is on the kid,” Robertshaw said, “and we’ve incorporated the same concept with sexual assault. Everyone comes for the victim instead of the victim having to go everywhere else.”
Robertshaw said she expects the new Power House to be open in June of next year.
