Polly’s Place Ministries dedicated a new healing center for battered women and children on Sunday, June 20.

The Seattle-area house, which can shelter a maximum of eight women and children, joins Cookie's Retreat in Spokane, Wash., as the second such Adventist-run shelter in the Northwest.

Just over a year ago, motivated church members asked Mable Dunbar, Women in Renewal president and a founder of Polly’s Place Ministries, to help them develop a viable outreach to the Seattle area. With her guidance and many hours of volunteer help, the house and the outreach plan have been readied.

According to Monica Hudgens, Polly’s Place Seattle director, the recovery program is designed for healing. Her long experience as a domestic violence advocate with the YWCA and Washington Department of Social and Health Services taught her that many women were simply looking for quick relief but not change, so they returned time after time. This new center, she believes, is a place of rest, recovery and renewal that will teach women how to change the destructive cycles in their lives.

The Polly’s Healing Center house is only part of the outreach plan. In addition, they will provide counseling, recovery groups and other support as needed. A crisis line is staffed with specially trained volunteers to handle urgent calls for help.

Future plans include additional outreach to educate men and boys and a teen pregnancy program.

For more information, visit www.pollysplaceseattle.org. Women in crisis are encouraged to call the crisis line at (206) 762-6559.