By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Twenty years ago, a series of domestic violence homicides in the county shook the community to the core and led to the founding of The Cocoon Shelter.
In 2000, Wood County had experienced four domestic violence murders in as many years. “It was a huge wake-up call for us as a community to realize this happens in our own backyards. and we needed to do better to support survivors of domestic violence,” said Cocoon Executive Director Kathy Mull.
On June 14, 2005, the shelter’s doors opened, and within 24 hours, the first resident moved in.
“That just solidified the need,” Mull said. “We worked to create buy-in to have an agency that serves survivors of domestic violence in our own communities with the gracious support of the community and a property owner who said, ‘We are going to let you have this building.’”
Now, 20 years later, the Cocoon Shelter is known as the Cocoon, after expanding its services beyond shelter to include advocacy and other support services for both domestic violence and sexual violence survivors. They have helped more than 6,000 survivors over the past two decades.
On June 17, the Cocoon will host an event to kick off its yearlong 20th anniversary celebration. The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Wood County Courthouse Atrium, where it all started.
“When we opened in 2005, we were at an entirely undisclosed location, so the original ribbon cutting was at the courthouse,” Mull said. “It’s exciting for us to come full circle and do our 20th celebration in the same place that we did our ribbon cutting.”
In addition to Mull, speakers will include founding board president Mary Krueger, Bowling Green Mayor Mike Aspacher, the Wood County Commissioners, Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson and Perrysburg Municipal Court Judge Aram Matthew Ohanian.
When asked some of the biggest accomplishments since the Cocoon started, Mull responded, “Getting our doors open, starting with nothing and saying, ‘We can do this,’”
She is also proud of the agency for adding the sexual violence services to its offerings in 2015, and most recently completing a major renovation and expansion of space and services. The new shelter facility doubled the capacity to 24 beds, and multiple programs have been added, such as housing assistance, medical services and youth programming.
“Our history has shown that we have intentionally evolved to ensure that when survivors experience barriers, we are there to help overcome those barriers,” she said. “Everything we do is based on the voices of the survivors. We are honored every day that survivors trust us to walk alongside them and to be with them in what is probably some of the hardest moments of their lives.”
There have been many successes, but not without some difficulties. Mull admitted. The number of people who reached out and asked for help came quickly and at a level that they knew additional staff, space and programming were needed. The challenge became keeping the doors open.
“How do we raise the necessary funds? How do we continue to raise awareness? How do we continue to bring people in to support the work we’re doing?” she recalled.
The reality is that the community stepped up and, for 20 years, has supported the agency in big ways, and when it was needed most.
“The community has so graciously wrapped their arms around us and given us the opportunity to ensure that survivors in our community have access to the safety and healing supports that they need,” Mull said. “The Cocoon will continue to do the work as long as survivors need safety and healing supports.”
