A group of volunteers is fundraising for a Christ-centered transitional shelter for women and their families in Machias. As a domestic abuse survivor, Shelley Otto of Machias feels Shekinah House is very necessary. "I know a lot of people who have concerns about its location, but my first husband was not my first experience with abuse. A guy followed me around with a gun... I tried all the secret shelters, but he was able to find me. Most women in Shekinah House will have already been in shelters. We're going to be the step after that. We're going to help get their feet under them," points out Otto. "We're not going into this blind. We know the reality. There is no such place as a safe place. But we're going to give them more prayers and more support than they've had."

It is hoped that Shekinah House, named for the Hebrew word meaning "dwelling place of God" or "presence of God," will open this summer, if ongoing renovations are completed on the large building at 10 Cooper Street. Given by an anonymous donor in October 2009, the structure served as the town's first hospital and has been an assisted-living center. The building is over 100 years old and needs a lot of work before it can provide long-term and short-term housing.

The project was started by Pastor Doug Watermolen of Lifespring Chapel in East Machias, but he didn't want it to be just a Lifespring Chapel project, so he currently serves on a board of directors consisting of representatives from Larabee Baptist Church, East Machias First Baptist Church, the University of Maine at Machias Campus Crusaders for Christ, Jonesport Wesleyan Church, Grace Christian Fellowship of Lubec, as well as his own church.

"We have monthly yard sales that helped greatly, but it would be nice to find a philanthropist to help with start-up costs," says Watermolen. "That would be good stewardship."

He sees $2,000,000 being split between several areas. "We'd like $1,000,000 for the foundation for the [Shekinah House'] organization and that money never get touched; $500,000 could be used for renovation so we can redo the 54 rooms into eight apartments. The rest of the money would be used for [residents'] rehab, daycare, job-hunting, or if someone can't pay it would come out of that $500,000."

Survivor support

Otto, now a registered nurse living with her family in Machias, was a victim of domestic abuse back in Kansas, and she was looking for something constructive to do. "I didn't feel comfortable about working with government agencies, but I knew Shekinah House was a wonderful opportunity for me to help."

Otto recently gave testimony about her life during the period after she married her first husband, who controlled everything she did. "What I wore. Where I worked. Who my friends were. Who I had lunch with, and where." A year after their wedding, they were parents to a son born with a heart defect, "which threw my husband into turmoil, because it was something he could not control. He became more verbally abusive, and he started throwing things at me and pushing me into walls." When she was pregnant with their daughter, the abuse became worse, and she got secular counseling to protect both herself and her children. "I had turned my back on God a long time ago and didn't feel I could turn to him for help," she explains. "After our daughter was born, the abuse continued to worsen. I was truly in fear for my life and my children."

When her daughter was six months old, Shelley Otto packed up her children while her husband was at work and spent several months hiding and continued with the secular counseling so she wouldn't repeat the cycle. "[The counselor], however, did not make me feel better. I was still struggling with low self-esteem, low self-worth, lack of self-confidence C all the things that made me so easy to manipulate and control. I still felt I deserved all the abuse I received."

Her life began to turn around after a friend convinced Shelley to go to church with her. "I was directed to a group of Christian counselors. And that was where I found hope and healing. My self-esteem was restored, I was given a sense of self-worth and I have more confidence now than I have ever had plus I have something I never thought I'd have again. I have a real sense of peace."

Ten years later, Otto says she still has days when she doesn't think she deserves the "wonderful" husband or the four children she now has. "God is the only one powerful enough to have healed the hurts that I had. It was his grace, love and mercy and forgiveness shown towards me that allows me to have that same grace, love, mercy and forgiveness with my ex-husband."

For more information about Shekinah House, contact Pastor Doug Watermolen at 733-2923 or 259-0943.

Yard sale fans should drop by 20 Cooper Street on the second Saturday of the month during the winter. The yard sale is a fundraiser for Shekinah House.