Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA) broke ground on its new shelter for victims of domestic violence Tuesday morning. With an increasing number of domestic abuse cases in Pinellas County, providing refuge for victims has become a challenge for CASA's current thirty-bed shelter.
CASA's director of advancement Nicole Worthington hopes that its new, 100-bed shelter will give more victims a safe place to call home.
"When that courageous decision is made to get that call for help, they've reached bottom, and they're making that really difficult call," Worthington said, "and yet we're turning away 1,400 women and children because we don't have a safe place to put them."
The new 40,000 square foot shelter in St. Petersburg will triple CASA's services, enabling the group to help about 1,000 victims per year. It is set to open next summer.
