LiveSafe Providing Resources For Domestic Violence Victims

MARIETTA — The new CEO of LiveSafe Resources provided a update on the domestic violence shelter at this week’s Marietta Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Lisa Mello, who has been with LiveSafe since November 2023, was joined by Kim Gresh, owner and president of S.A. White Oil Company and the longest-serving member of LiveSafe’s board.

LiveSafe, formerly the Young Women’s Christian Association of Northwest Georgia, provides emergency shelter, transitional housing, counseling and legal advocacy for those who have been impacted by domestic violence or other forms of abuse.

The organization serves as the state-funded regional protection center for sexual assault victims in Cobb, Paulding and Cherokee counties and offers 24/7 medical exams and advocacy for victims at no cost.

Mello said in 2023, the organization served 169 people of all genders. Of those, 46% were between the ages of 13-44. She said that statewide, thousands of people suffered from some form of sexual abuse last year.

“The thought that 7,000 adults faced sexual assault in Georgia in 2023, or over 13,000 children up to the age of 18 were assaulted, is mind-numbing,” Mello said. “Those are just the ones that reported. But across the country, every 68 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted. As much as we’d like to talk about what happens after the fact, what happens when we prosecute someone, there’s still a lot to be done for prevention.”

Mello said having advocates to talk about healthy relationships and provide resources for those suffering from abuse is the most important way to combat domestic violence.

The subject of abuse is personal to Mello, who remembered the relationship her parents were in when she was younger.

“My mom, in 1980, was in a very abusive relationship with my father,” Mello said. “She found the strength to finally make a choice to make a safety plan. She had the support of her family. She had my grandparents, her brother, her sister, but it was 1980. There weren’t a lot of resources at that time. She had decided that she would save money to the side, she would look for a place, and she had an idea that in six weeks, she would have enough to move out on her own.”

Mello said, however, that six weeks didn’t come fast enough, as a “pretty bad incident” occurred that led to her mother getting out sooner than that.

“I think about my mom and I think about what she encountered in 1980, and I think about today, in 2024, and I am honored to do this alongside so many of you who are supporters in this room and have been able to help us to get where we are.”

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a fact that was not lost on Mello or on Gresh.

“Look around you,” Gresh said. “Someone in this room has been sexually assaulted. Someone has gone through domestic violence. You may think not, but they have been. The longer I serve on this board, the more I see people are willing to come up and share their story.”

Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady, who was on hand for the luncheon, said organizations like LiveSafe provide victims a way to escape from their abuser.

“The more awareness we put out in the community about the resources that are available, the easier it is for people to know that if they decide to leave, they have help,” Broady said. “Lots of times, the abuser has isolated (the victim), they’ve alienated the family, they’ve taken them away from the family, they rely on them so much that if they leave, they just don’t know where their next meal’s going to come from and where they’re going to sleep at.”

For more information on LiveSafe or to donate, visit livesaferesources.org.