Interact of Wake County

In a period of my family life that seems far away and long ago, we had a painful situation arise. My sister was living out of state, married, and had a new baby boy when we got a call from her best friend. My sister’s husband had put her in the hospital. For me, the rest was an angry blur. I still get mad at him just thinking about it. Thankfully, he is long gone. I share this with you because today I am focusing on Interact of Wake County.

Not surprisingly when I asked my friends for any stories they may have relating to Interact, I only got one response – my sister’s. She said, “I really wish there had been something around like that when I went through what I went through. If there was, I didn't know where to look or what to do.” My guess is that lack of familiarity with Interact and what they do is part of the reason I didn’t get a response from my friends. The other part is quite possibly that anyone who has needed the resources provided by Interact may not be as willing to share her story as my sister is.

So what is Interact of Wake County? The answer is on its website’s home page, http://www.interactofwake.org/:

Interact is a private, non-profit, United Way agency that provides safety, support, and awareness to victims and survivors of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault. Interact fulfills this mission through the support of its volunteers and community.

Interact provides a wide range of services from 24 Hour Crisis Hotlines to a Residential Shelter to Court Advocacy for victims. Interact is available from the first sign of trouble to the end of the abusive relationship providing assistance and counseling to abused women and children. It also offers a new service, Rape Prevention Education, which is geared toward college-aged students in Wake County. For a list of the wide range of services provided by Ineract, go to http://www.interactofwake.org/services/.

If you live in Raleigh, you have probably driven by Interact’s headquarters on Oberlin Road:

In 2009, InterAct opened its new headquarters, Family Safety & Empowerment Center in Raleigh, which brings together nine other community agencies to provide wraparound services for victims and survivors of violence and abuse.

The agencies include Easter Seals UCP, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, KIRAN, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Raleigh Police Department, SouthLight, Wake Health Services, YMCA of the Triangle, and YWCA of the Greater Triangle. For information on how each of these collaborators works with Interact, please visit http://www.interactofwake.org/about/.

Because Interact offers such a wide variety of services, they need a variety of volunteers including cashiers and sorters for the thrift stores, Pass It On and Pass It On, Too, onsite counselors, hospital responders, court advocates, group facilitators, and special project volunteers. All volunteers must be approved by the volunteer services coordinator. For more information on how to volunteer and the complete list of types of volunteers needed, check the website at http://www.interactofwake.org/volunteer/.

If you would like to financially support Interact, you could donate to them, attend a fundraising event, or shop in its thrift stores. I spent some time perusing the racks in Pass It On, Too a few days ago and scored a Jones New York Sport top and a pretty little shell for a total of $7.50. That point brings me to another way to donate: similar to donating to Goodwill, you can donate gently used women’s and children’s clothes and accessories to Pass It On and Pass It On, too. See the website for their exact locations and hours. My sister has also collected used cell phones from friends and family to donate as well. While she did not have the opportunity to use Interact’s services in her own situation, she and I both believe that Interact deserves whatever support we can afford to give.