Our Philanthropy

Panhellenic’s philanthropy is First Step, a domestic violence center in Harrisonburg.

Every sorority and fraternity has its own philanthropy and all chapters are successful with contributing to their own philanthropy, however as a group, our community can make a huge impact while unifying our community.  

First Step Web site

What is First Step?
-Mostly women come to the shelter for shelter and food and basically a place to stay for a while to avoid abusive spouses

-They also come to the shelter if they were kicked out of their homes and need a place to stay

-The shelter has 16 beds and the majority of the time the shelter is 95% full.

-Some of the services that they offer include support groups for abused women and men, short term individual counseling, housing and employment counseling, a 24 hour, 7 days per week crisis intervention hot line and court advocacy which is basically helping victims that are in legal crisis.

-First Step receives 50 phone calls per month from victims of domestic violence  

-In VA, every 12 minutes an abused person seeks help from a domestic violence shelter  

-First Step serves 2000 victims of domestic violence per year 

-First Step needs canned goods, personal supplies and donations in order to function best

Domestic Violence

• 1 million to 3 million women per year are physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends
• Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime
• About 1/3 of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives
• While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner
• Women are also seven to 14 times more likely than men to report suffering severe physical assaults from an intimate partner