What: Have a Heart PEACE for Families Gala.
When and where: Feb. 8 at the Granite Bay Golf Club; individual tickets are $75; (530) 823-6224 or www.peaceforfamilies.org.
The lineup: Reception at 6 p.m., dinner and program honoring Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner at 7 p.m.; dancing at 8 p.m. with music by Hip Service.
Big prize: A European trip for two; 500 tickets will be sold at $100 each. Included will be first-class, round-trip airfare, three nights at Raffles Le Montreaux Palace on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, three nights at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris and three nights at the Fairmont Monte Carlo in Monaco. Call (530) 823-6224.
History: PEACE (Placer Extends a Caring Environment) for Families began as a grass-roots group in 1978. Today, its 40 staff members and more than 30 volunteers provide around-the-clock services to victims and their families. Services include 24-hour crisis line – (800) 575-5352 – emergency shelter for battered women and their children, in-person crisis intervention, hospital accompaniment, individual and group peer counseling, therapeutic counseling, and assistance in obtaining emergency food, clothing and transportation. PEACE for Families anticipates opening a new shelter this spring.
Featured volunteer: Before getting into how and why Hawkeye Sharpe volunteers with PEACE, here's the answer to any query about his first name: "We are involved with the wagon train each year, and my colleagues bestowed the name upon me at least eight years ago," he said. "I liked it so much, I changed my name legally to Hawkeye."
Involved with volunteer work on suicide/crisis lines in the San Jose area, Sharpe began looking for a place to put his volunteer time after moving to Placer County. "About seven years ago, I saw an ad from PEACE looking for volunteers. I went through the training and have been involved ever since," he said.
Sharpe is most active with SART – the Sexual Assault Response Team. "My role there, as a male, is to support the family and loved ones while the victim is in the emergency room," he said. "Sometimes, I am at the scene to support the grieving family. ... I try to provide a presence of calm, hopefully, to make some reason, if possible, out of what happened."
Sharpe recently has become involved with the domestic violence drop-in group. "We discuss what it looks like, what patterns can develop," said Sharpe. "The first step is to get involved in the program or to leave the abuser. It is an awareness to building reality in their lives."
