Shelter From The Storm provides a safe haven for victims of domestic violence, offering them protection from their abusers, as well as empowering them through counseling, training, and education to create safe and healthy lives for themselves and their children. As a highly respected, non-sectarian program, we are committed to serving the needs of all battered women and their families who seek our help. Our goal is to provide the specialized emergency shelter, outreach, counseling, and support services that are necessary to respond appropriately to families experiencing violence. Our Board of Directors and staff strongly believe everyone deserves to live lives free from the terror of violence in their homes and services must be made available to all victims of domestic abuse. We are committed to providing services that meet the highest standards of professionalism and respect for the individual and their right to confidentiality.



In 1988 community leaders recognized that services and safety for domestic violence victims was a critical issue in the underserved areas of the Coachella Valley and throughout Eastern Riverside County. Thus, Shelter From the Storm was established for the purpose of providing much-needed shelter and services to battered women and children.



Shelter From The Storm opened its emergency shelter in September 1993. Since that time, the shelter program services have seen tremendous growth, providing safety, counseling, case management, and legal and social service advocacy and resources for women and their children fleeing violence in the home. In 2017, due to funding cuts, the shelter was relocated allowing for it to become more of a home setting than a shelter. This change continued to allow victims to find safety, support, and become empowered survivors. On an annual basis, we provide more than 700 nights of emergency shelter. We also serve more than 2,000 meals to our residents each year.



Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Shelter From The Storm adjusted service provisions to be virtual telehealth services. SFTS continues to provide virtual services and incorporated a new hybrid model with services both in person and virtually, utilizing the Zoom platform and telehealth case management, advocacy, and counseling services.



Shelter From The Storm offers (both in-person and virtually using a hybrid service model:

• 24-hour Crisis Call Center, which fields more than 3,000 calls per year.

• Weekly case management with clients to help them create specific, measurable, and doable goals.

• Domestic Violence Outreach Advocates who help clients with the provision of services and referrals.

• Providing valuable consultation to clinical professionals, and able to teach the medical, legal, law enforcement, and the lay communities about domestic violence including having the only Teen Dating Violence Prevention Program curriculum in the Coachella Valley available to local high schools.

• Community Counseling Center provides clinical therapy with licensed therapist(s), both individual and group, for women, and children who have completed their stay in our emergency shelter as well as to the community at large, including male survivors.

• Provision of basic hygiene/personal care items, and nonperishable food items for clients in our shelter service program and those enrolled in services at our Community Counseling Center.