Hope Haven of the Lowcountry will hold a grand opening ceremony at its new facility and headquarters at 1212 Charles Street in Beaufort on Sunday February 16 from 3 until 5 p.m. The event includes an official ribbon cutting, facility tour, and signing of the community’s “Child Abuse Response Protocol” by partner agencies. Signees include 14th Circuit solicitor Duffie Stone and Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner. Hope Haven is the children’s advocacy and rape crisis center serving the 14th Judicial District — Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper and Allendale counties.

Hope Haven makes the move after nearly 12 years at their former facility, where they saw significant increase in service demand. Their staff grew from four to 16 during that time.

“We are so excited to get settled into our new home,” said Shauw-Chin Capps, Hope Haven’s executive director. “Moving to this facility makes it easier to provide the quality services to our clients that they deserve,” she said.

Last year, Hope Haven served a total of 521 direct victims of child abuse and sexual assault. Of those, 82 percent were children under 16 years old; 57 percent of the clients were children under 11 years old.
<div></div>