Domestic Abuse Family Shelter Board wraps up final renovation project tasks

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - A retired social worker who enjoys helping others, Joy Lubritz, has served on the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter (DAFS) Board of Directors for nearly 11 years. She and her team has a current project near completion.

"About 10 years ago we came about this piece of property and we have needed a new facility. Our facility in Hattiesburg is pretty old and so we bought it. We thought we could just move right in but we found out there had to be a lot of work done. It had been empty for a couple of years,” said Joy Lubritz.

Lubritz and her team shared a vision to provide a new shelter to service victims of domestic abuse. After nearly two years, the project will finally be completed by the beginning of 2018.

"We provide a safe place for them to stay. We provide food, clothing. We provide child care, we have a child care worker. We help them get a job. We help with transportation and the most important thing of all we provide counselling services,”

She said one of the motives for the shelter expansion project is to accommodate the increasing number of clients.

“Our stats from last year, we served 240 women and children in our 11 county service area. I expect our stats at the end of December to show an increase over the year before,” said DAFS Executive Director, Joy Lubritz.

Lubritz said she enjoys seeing her team be kind to the community and appreciates their genuine interest in helping others.

“We all need help from time to time. I’ve needed help at times. We all pay it forward, everyone help each other and I think that’s what life is about.”