Victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse staying at Transitions, Inc. Domestic Violence Shelter and Advocacy will now have new beds to sleep in after a local bedding company donated to the home Monday. 

“I’m a little speechless right now because they have brought us everything on our wish list that we were wanting, and it will be so well-used,” said Mitzi Shook, Executive Director at Transitions after seeing what the Malouf Foundation brought to her shelter. 

When Steven Foreman was visiting Malouf, he informed the Foundation about the Mid-East Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition (MERR-C) and the organization’s mission to end human trafficking — a similar mission shared with the Malouf Foundation. 

“Malouf was kind enough to say, well do you ever need any things for the shelter, because Transitions Shelter is MERR-C’s cause,” said Foreman. “They said why don’t you make us a wish list.”

Then Malouf delivered. 

On Monday, Malouf loaded seven twin and three queen beds with all the necessary bedding on a pickup truck and made the trip from Frazeysburg to Transitions. 

“We strive to help out people that are in need and especially women and children that have been abused and can use this,” said Braden Brown, Warehouse Manager at Malouf. “They line up right with the values that we strive to achieve.”

Whenever a victim of human trafficking is rescued, Transitions will offer a place to stay until other arrangements are made. 

The daily operations at Transitions typically sees victims of domestic violence and their children as they seek refuge from their abusers. 

“Some of our domestic violences are felonies. They get to the point where we just had bulletproof glass put up on our front windows, so this is not anything that you mess with,” said Shook. “This is a very real abuse that people live in, and some of them have lived in it historically for their whole lives.”

For those victims, sleep isn’t often a priority when escaping abuse. 

“Some of our people come in haven’t slept for 24 hours or haven’t slept soundly for a very long time, so sleep is very important to trauma and to get people to speak,” said Shook. “You’re coming into a house of people you do not know. You’re trusting them with some of the stories that are, some are very heinous stories we have to deal with on a regular basis.”

Prior to the Malouf Foundation’s donation, residents at Transitions were sleeping on mattresses as old at 22 years. 

“This donation today and this community service is huge for what we deal with, so maybe when someone gets a good night’s sleep and has a wonderful mattress to sleep on, they’ll be able to tell their story and maybe start into the recovery that we hope for,” said Shook.