SANDPOINT — A Priest River women's advocacy organization is bringing crisis services, education, emergency transportation and counseling to Sandpoint women and their children being victimized by abuse.

Priest River Ministries Advocates for Women is a faith-based, non-profit organization that serves families in need no matter their ages, religion or heritage. The ministry has been meeting the critical needs of Bonner County residents since 2002 from its office in Priest River and will open a Sandpoint branch office Monday, May 16.

The office, which will serve the Bonners Ferry and Clark Fork communities as well, is located in the Pioneer Square Professional Building, 819 Highway 2, Suite 211.

"I've been doing outreach in Sandpoint for a while. I go once per week. At first, we met in churches, but some people didn't like that. Then, we met in coffee shops, but there is really no privacy, and there's nothing for children to do there. Now that we have our own office, there will be a childcare room where they can watch TV and play with toys," said Rhonda Encinas, executive director of PRMAFW.

The organization received its 501(c)3 non-profit designation in 2005, but Encinas had already established a women's outreach group, Healing Hearts, three years earlier. Currently, the organization operates an office in Rivertown Mall and three shelter facilities in Priest River: Ruth's House for emergencies, Esther's House for extended stays and Rebecca's Room.

She has enough funding in place so far to support the Sandpoint office for six months. PRMAFW receives support from grassroots groups like Angels Over Sandpoint, commercial donors like Litehouse Foods, and grants from organizations such as the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Encinas said there has been a gap in women's advocacy services in Sandpoint since the closure of Harmony House several years ago that law enforcement is not able to fill on its own.

"The prosecutor’s team takes care of people who have criminal cases, but they don’t run support group classes, they don’t have transportation, they don’t give them clothes or food," she said. "Ninety percent (of women) who need help are not going to law enforcement -- that’s the group we serve. As far as domestic violence goes, people very rarely go through law enforcement. In the case of sexual assault, even fewer people go to law enforcement.

"And then there's the trafficking problem. Rural trafficking is done on the Internet through ads on sites like Craigslist or Backpage," Encinas said.

Priest River Ministries frequently works with women who find themselves trapped in abusive or predatory relationships, helping them break ties with abusers and providing the resources the women need, both in the short-term and the future.

"Our purpose is to stay in touch with these women for the long-term. Last year, five women (in the advocacy program) bought their own homes," she said.

Some of her clients attend college, too, and launch careers in growing fields like pharmacy technology and healthcare.

Encinas is seeking volunteer advocates in the Sandpoint area to staff the new office. In Priest River, she has the dedicated support of 34 volunteers and would like to develop a similar core group for the new location.

Volunteer advocates will help Encinas staff the office during its regular hours of operation, which are Monday mornings and Tuesday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Sandpoint and Priest River offices will share a phone number: 208-448-2800. Counseling and paralegal services will be available by appointment. When the office is closed, people can get help by calling the crisis line at 208-290-6529.

"We've been doing this a long time, and we want to keep doing it, but the community has got to support it," she said.

Information: http://prmafw.org