SAVE's Rich History

Thirty years ago, a group of concerned community members recognized the need for a women’s shelter. In October 1976 they formed the Committee on Battered Women to provide public education on domestic violence and community support for shelter groups. A year later they incorporated as a non-profit organization under the name of Shelter Against Violent Environments (SAVE), and began earnest work to open a shelter. This dream became a reality on October 2, 1978.

The first SAVE shelter was a cottage loaned to SAVE by Marie Danner’s father rent-free to provide a safe haven for abused mothers and their children. They squeezed two families into the cottage that also housed the SAVE office. Less than a year later, the shelter moved to a renovated hotel in the Niles District of Fremont and stayed there for two years. SAVE then bought the current building, that still houses SAVE’S battered women and their children.

In the early 1980’s, Iris Preece, SAVE’s first Executive Director, applied for and received a grant to pay off the current shelter’s mortgage.

WINGS (We In Need Gain Strength), SAVE’s transitional housing apartment complex, was purchased in 1988, becoming the first transitional housing for domestic violence victims in Alameda County.

In 1996, Rodney Clark joined SAVE as  Executive Director. His first tasks were to ensure SAVE’s solvency and increase services. Hence, SAVE introduced the COPS program (Community Oriented Prevention Services), a partnership between SAVE and local police departments.

SAVE joined forces with the City of Fremont and other social service organizations to become a lead agency member of the Fremont Family Resource Center in 1999.  The community office moved there and became a part of an award-winning collaborative that provides “one-stop shopping” for families and individuals in need of social services.

Thirty years later, SAVE offers much more than shelter - counseling, transitional housing, life skills training, legal advocacy, restraining orders, crisis intervention, community education, teen dating violence prevention program, children's programs, and support groups.  To reflect this wide range of services, in late 2005 SAVE’s Board of Directors voted to change the agency’s name to Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, keeping the acronym SAVE which is more commonly used.

Today, SAVE remains a respected community organization that provides invaluable and needed services to over 10,000 women, men, and children each year.  Until the day that domestic violence is eradicated from our society, SAVE plans to be available as a resource and support for those affected by domestic violence.