The shelter will remain open despite the funding loss.

The shelter will remain open despite the funding loss.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Officials from a domestic violence shelter are considering eliminating programs after failing to get a nearly $55,000 grant they had received annually the past three years.
Christina House officials will be scrutinizing their budget in the next few days, trying to determine how to deal with the loss of the state-administered federal grant.
The nonprofit organization has been receiving the funding annually since 1998.
The $55,000 Family Violence Prevention Grant was to help fund Christina House's $189,000 budget for the coming year, Beth Schmitt, program director, explained Thursday.
Other funding sources: Besides the prevention grant, Christina House also relies on donations, state funding and about $30,000 annually from Columbiana County.
The loss of the grant won't require shutting down the shelter, which can house up to a dozen area women and children, Schmitt said.
But without the money, the shelter may be forced to eliminate several of its programs in the next few weeks, she added.
Those include programs that provide for counseling for shelter occupants, send shelter representatives to area hospitals to visit injured domestic violence victims and educate the community about domestic violence, dating violence and sexual assault.
Schmitt said Christina House officials are trying to determine why they didn't receive the grant this year. The money is provided to applicants based on need.
Without the $55,000, shelter officials may seek funding from area community service organizations, Schmitt said.