Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.144 | Vera House Inc.

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Spotlight on Vera House: A Pillar of Support for Domestic Violence Survivors In this episode of Good News York, Matt Masur from Clickstream Studios converses with Tricia Matthews, CEO of Vera House, and Rebecca Shiroff, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Intergovernmental Affairs. The discussion highlights Vera House, an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Central New York for nearly 50 years. They cover the organization's mission, services offered such as shelters, therapy, advocacy, prevention education, and special programs including a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program. The episode emphasizes the importance of community support through donations and volunteering, and promotes involvement in upcoming events like the Syracuse Auto Dealers Association Charity Preview. The comprehensive assistance Vera House provides to those in need, along with their efforts to raise awareness and educate the community, underscores the crucial role they play in the region. 00:00 Introduction to Good News York 00:38 Meet the Leaders of Vera House 01:13 Mission and Services of Vera House 03:20 Impact and Statistics 04:52 Prevention and Education Programs 08:27 Challenges and Funding 13:27 Community Support and Fundraisers 14:34 White Ribbon Campaign Breakfast 15:44 Care Packages for Shelter Residents 16:37 Corporate Sponsorships and Community Support 18:34 Syracuse Auto Dealers Association Event 20:18 Grassroots Awareness Initiatives 22:36 The Legacy of Sister Mary Vera 24:24 Conclusion and Contact Information

At Arizona State University, we're bringing world-class education from our globally acclaimed faculty to you. Earn your degree from the nation's most innovative university online. That's a degree better. Learn more at ASUonline.asu.edu. This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news? There's a better option. I'm Will and I created IQ bar plant protein bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel.

IQ bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lions mane, and zero weird stuff. And right now, you can get 20% off all IQ bar products, plus free shipping. Try our delicious IQ bar sampler pack with seven plant protein bars, four hydration mixes, and four enhanced coffee sticks. clean ingredients, amazing taste, and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ bar. Go to eat IQbar.com and enter code bar 20 to get 20% off all IQ bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eat IQ bar.com and enter code bar 20.

Hey, everybody. I'm Matt Major from ClickStream Studios. Welcome to Good News, York. Today I am joined by two incredible ladies that are going to tell us about an organization that's been a staple in the central New York community for almost 50 years. I think we're approaching 49 plus. It's called Vera House. And I'd love to just dive right in. And ladies, go ahead and just introduce yourself.

And then we'll talk a little bit about what Vera House is. Sure. I'm Trisha Matthews. I'm the CEO of Vera House. I just celebrated my three-year anniversary. So I'm happy and fortunate to be leaving this charge. That's great. And I'm Rebecca Shiroff.

I'm the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Intergovernmental Affairs. Quite a mouthful. That's a title right there. It is. But I have been with Vera House since August, actually. So I'm the new kid in town. But one of the most fulfilling rules I've ever had, to be honest with you. It's great.

So as I mentioned, he's been around for a long time. So there's lots of folks in the community that are aware of you, but I think there's probably a number of folks who are. So if you wouldn't mind, either way, you'd jump right in and just kind of tell us what your mission and what the organization's all about. So we're an organization that we care for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. So first and foremost, we're here for everybody to serve anybody in need, even if they're not ready to flee. 315-468-3262-2-60 is our support line 24-7. We have two shelters. We have a team of advocates.

We have a prevention education team. We have therapy. We have an accountability program for people who have caused harm and who come through the prison system to help them. We have an abuse in later life. So elder abuse is on the rise. So that's an area we want to talk about growth. What am I missing?

Oh, our same program. Yeah. Sexual assault nurse exam. So anytime someone has been sexually assaulted and they end up in one of our emergency rooms, we have a team of nurses and advocates that go out and support that client. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow.

That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. How many folks do you have with the program in your organization? Roughly around 55. Wow. Currently, we do have some vacancies. So we're working to fill those.

But we have seen an uptick in people applying to Vera House. So it's great. So I feel like we can't hire everybody at one time. It would put us underwater. So we strategically kind of work on what position we're going to fill next. And we have an incredible team. I'm going to say that. Incredible.

Yeah. And it's very heavy work, what they do. Very heavy. You know, so we really push self-care a lot at Vera House. And, you know, we do events for the staff that really focus on self-care because it's heavy what they do. You know, the advocates are stories that you'll never unhear and things you'll never unsee. So we're always pushing self-care, you know, very big on that.

And unfortunately, you know, our mission says we're going to end it, but unfortunately, I don't, I don't see that any time on the horizon because when you look at our statistics, which actually I wanted to share some, that's with you as far as, and I have to look on my, phone here. No, it's okay. But in 2025 in review, we had, for example, over 200 survivors housed through our shelters. We had over 255 patients met at the hospital by sexual assault nurse examiners. We had over 4,000 community members and students reached through prevention education, which is huge, because that's where it starts before it begins. Over 5,600 crisis calls received by the advocacy team. that's huge.

And over 400 program completions for the accountability programs, which, as Trisha mentioned, are for people who have caused harm. And sometimes we'll get people say, well, how can you work with? Well, let me explain this to you. If you have one person who has abused someone, there's been cases that we've had where it's one person with four victims. You get to them after the first one, that's three you're not going to have. You know, so it is incredibly important because, as Trisha has said before, you can't arrest your way out of domestic violence.

Right. You know, it's prevention, education, it's accountability, it's all of the things in between. So it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. If you wouldn't mind, tell me a little bit more about the prevention part. What does that program like? What happens there? Sure.

So we have contracts with a lot of the school districts in the school district. college campuses. And so our team goes out and presents on healthy relationships. Explaining what sexual assault and domestic violence actually is, right? Some people don't even know. And expressing and explaining that it's in everybody's backyard, right? It's not over there in that other neighborhood. It's in everyone's backyard. And the numbers that Rebecca talks about, that's just the people that came forth. The people that sit in it and just don't know that there's a place to go, right? Or that that's for somebody else. We talk all the time, 2026, Prevention Education Department.

We want to really expand that and grow that. We've been meeting with a lot of the politicians to talk about getting really embedded in the schools on a regular basis, not just when we get invited. Sure. Right. But it should be part of educating these kids. Part of the curriculum. Every week. And a place for them to go if, you know, so I think we get there and we can check the box that we, you know, we taught the program.

but is it impacting them? And did a kid just see domestic violence at home and then came to school and then our educators are there and they taught the class? But should we be in a resource room where they have some place to go and talk through that and what that looks like so that we can educate them so that they don't become the next abuser? Sure. That's where we got to move.

Breaking the cycle. Yeah. Breaking the cycle. And that's what we want to talk about through 2020. Because we're not doing enough. We've got to do more. I say it all the time. But easy. You're said than done. Right. Got to find the funding. Sure. Got to hire the right people. You got to hire the right people so that they can impact these young adults, young kids so that they know. Listen, did anyone teach us what a healthy relationship is? No. Yeah. We, you know, you go through the life journey yourself. So I think those are some of the changes that we could. you know, really implement to turn the corner here so that we can do more. And something also that we say is, you know, it's not just women that are affected by domestic

violence. And you don't have to have bruises to be a victim of domestic violence. You know, we just partnered with safe space and they're going to hold their, they're going to hold their, it's a women's empowerment group at Vera House. They're going to be facilitating the group at our location. So we partnered with. with them. And that is a group for women who, you know, are, they are in a domestic violence situation, but they feel like, well, maybe I don't need Vera House yet because I haven't been hit. We see everyone. There's psychological abuse, emotional abuse, financial exploitation, all of the above. We help all of those people, but we are also working with other organizations that do things

like that and, you know, let's kind of work together and let's bridge the gap. So, but, you know, there are groups for men as well, because men are, men can be victims of, you know, maybe not physical, but certainly emotional, verbal, financial abuse. It happens. So it's, it's, it's something that affects everyone, every socioeconomic background, every gender, everything. It affects everyone. it affects everyone. So before I jump into a couple other things, I guess on that, no, if somebody needs help, what's the best way for them to get it? Just start with our support line, right, 24-7. And, you know, they can come and be a part of one of these groups, right? It doesn't mean that you're ready to leave, but maybe you're going to do some safety planning and maybe you're going to

just talk through what it is. Because let's face it, life is hard on a good day? Right? Now take someone who, and I'll make all this up. Let's say you don't even have a credit card in your name. You don't have a vehicle in your name. You don't have a home in your name. And now I'm going to lead it. And now I'm bringing my two kids with me. And they want to go back because it's my dad and it's my dog and the fish and the guinea pig. And now I'm off with mom in a strange place and we we can't even buy a cracker. So we talk a lot about we have to make it easier. We've got to put all those support mechanisms in place that when some poor soul gets the courage to go, we can make their life easier and more comfortable and to give them hope.

Because these are tough situations and it's a dark time for them. And we have to be responsible for that. Well, it's incredible that there even is such a resource. Sure. Can you imagine if we weren't here? Right. Right. This is, you want to know what keeps me up at night?

What if we, what if we couldn't sustain it? Yeah. And we can't do it on grant funding alone, right? That funding is all, that's a whole other topic for another day. Yeah. But we need, and for us to do more and hire more staff, we have to find more money to do that. That's fair. to think of all those numbers that Rebecca just rattled off if your house wasn't here,

where would those people go? And we're competing for funds that, you know, some of it's going downstate. No, we got to keep that. We got to keep this service here. It's vital. Yes. Because I see the look on these people's faces. I can't even explain it to you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I know you're based in Syracuse. Is there a geographical area that you serves or? We do that analysis in our database, and there's about roughly around 30 or 31 little separate communities that we take care of. But I think it's because those communities know we're here and know to call us. We have had clients come from other states because of for safety reasons, right?

Again, the staff is incredible. To watch them navigate a case, a situation, they come together as a team. They divide and conquer. No two cases are the same. No two days are the same. But they know how to navigate the community and the resources. We're very, very fortunate in Onondaga County to have all of the wraparound services that we have access to. And the team knows how to navigate that. They do a great job. That's great. Yeah. They do everything from, you know, if somebody gets there, a lot of times they may not have their license. They may not have their, you know, because that abusers tend to take those things away. because that's another way of having control. Sure. So no license, no debit card, no nothing.

So the advocates help them getting their license again, getting their past, you know, and not just throwing their kids for school, you know, all of these things that we don't even think about, right? Yeah. You don't think about it. Exactly. You take it for granted. So, you know, and that's why I say, you know, we have people that come from every background because you can have the great house, the cars, the trips, everything.

but if you don't even have a debit card in your name, or where are you going? Right. You have to go to your house because you can't, you know, you can't even stay at a hotel. So, yeah, we do a lot, and it's from beginning to end. And, you know, once they leave us,

we also, you know, continue to help as much as we can. But, you know, that's where the funding comes in. You know, right now we're about 80-20, you know, grants to private. that my dream and my role would be to flip that. Sure. You know, it's a big dream, but, you know, I love a challenge. So there's that.

But, yeah, we just need all the support that we can get because we can't go anywhere. And we are the only certified reprisis center within how many miles? I don't even know. I mean, I think that is Rochester. Rochester. So we're needed here. And if we have an increase in population in this area in the next few years, guess what that means more people that are going to need Vera House because the statistics are

one in four women are affected by this. So the more people you get in here, the more people that are going to need our service and more sleepless nights. Correct. So let's talk about some of those ways that people can help on top of obviously just donating directly, which is probably the easiest and quickest and best things. This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news? There's a better option.

I'm Will and I created IQ bar plant protein bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious low sugar brain and body fuel. IQ bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lions mane, and zero weird stuff. And right now, you can get 20% off all IQ bar products, plus reshipping. Try our delicious IQ bar sampler. packed with seven plant protein bars, four hydration mixes, and four enhanced coffee sticks. Clean ingredients, amazing taste, and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder,

caffeinate larger with IQ bar. Go to eat IQbar.com and enter code bar 20 to get 20% off all IQ bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eat IQ bar.com and enter code bar 20. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month.

If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. for everybody you do, right? But you also have all kinds of different fundraisers, including one that's coming up pretty soon with some cool cars. Yeah, so February 11th at the OnCenter, it's the Syracuse Auto Dealers Association charity preview. And we were fortunate enough this year to be selected as one of the benefiting charities. And there's other amazing charities as well that are benefiting. and, you know, a lot of which are, you know, we'll work together and do whatever we can to help each other.

But yeah, Vera House is one of them, which was such a wonderful surprise. It's great. And on our website, www.virahouse.org, if people go on there, right on our home page, they will see Seda. And if they want to purchase tickets, they can do it through that. We also have our gala that's in October. should know the final date today, as a matter of fact. We have the White Ribbon Campaign Breakfast, which is April 8th at the downtown Marriott.

What's that one all about? That sounds interesting. So April is white ribbon campaign awareness. And it's mostly a men-led movement to end domestic violence, to bring awareness to domestic violence. And we kick it off. We kick off the month with our breakfast, which is at the downtown Marriott. And, you know, we have speakers. We talk about what the white ribbon campaign is.

And we try and get as many men involved in raising awareness and talking about, you know, healthy masculinity and trying to end this problem that we have. So, yeah. That's great. There's a lot. There's a lot that goes on. But people can also, you know, volunteer. They can, you know, we have people that do donations of care packages. There's just so many ways, so many ways to help.

What, when you say care packages, what are the types of things that are useful that would be good for people to give you? Sure. So we're starting a new initiative where we're going to have welcome baskets for the people who come into our shelter. You know, face masks and a journal, you know, we could take. comforters, towels, sheets, all of those things. But the thought is on your shit, obviously. I'm constantly, constantly harping that, you know, when someone has the courage to go, and let's face it, if you're coming to the shelter,

you've got no place else to go. When you open that door, to me, it's got to feel like there's hope. And so especially when you've taken the courage and now you're going to open that bedroom door and you're going to stay in a strange place. You know, just a welcome basket to provide a little comfort for them. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think it's a great idea.

Yeah. Yeah. And there's several initiatives that we're going to be looking at in the next year. You know, we have annual corporate sponsorships. So there are partnerships that companies can do with us where for a certain amount, you know, there's obviously there's the support itself, but there's, There's also things, you know, like tickets to our events and, you know, social media, all of that thing.

Community Bank actually just stepped up big time. They have come on board as our community room supporter, our community room sponsor, and the community room at our office is the first room where somebody who comes to your house will go. You know, sometimes it's a mom with her kids. Sometimes it's, you know, just the person themselves. it's supposed to be the first space that they walk into when they leave that situation. And right now, it's, it feels a little clinical, you know, we want it to feel like a home and like a living

room, somewhere where you can go in there and just kind of take a deep breath for the first time, probably in years, as you've been living with this fear over your head for so long. So, yeah, Community Bank stepped up and they are the sponsor of that room. So we're very excited about that. And there's going to be other opportunities like that for other areas as well and hopefully areas in the shelter as well. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. That's awesome. Ladies, the work you do is just truly incredible. And I'm really appreciating you coming in and telling us about it and hopefully us helping to spread the word. Sure. A to people that might need your services, but also people that, obviously want to support this incredible mission that you have here.

So this is great. And just another plug for the most upcoming event. I'm going to be the acronym wrong with. SETA. Yep, SETA. Syracuse Auto Dealers Association. Yeah. I've attended that event many times.

And let me tell you, as charity fundraisers go, it's one of the most unique. It's a good time. You know, you get to see all the new model year cars from, from almost all the dealers. And it's really fun to take pictures of very expensive BMWs. You're never going to buy. The great selfies in a couple of those. Oh, yeah.

But, and they, great everything. It's just a wonderful event. Yeah. And they get a good turnout, too. I think it's like 800 people or to 1,000 people usually attend, if not more. It's a black tie event. So that's always fun. Yeah.

But great food, you know, drinks. And it's just a good, it's a really. really good time. And they split it between the on center and the war memorial. So you get to take a little golf cart to the tunnel to go to the other side. You see the really, really expensive cool cars. Yeah. So it's a great time. It's a great time. Deserts over on the other parts. You got to stick around. Oh, that. Right. I forgot about that. Yeah. There's a good. Yeah. It's a good time. So we're going to be there and we're going to have a table with information about our services and what we do and people who will be able to answer questions and because, you know, again, one and four. So the odds of somebody

being at the event that... And it takes a village, right? We say it all the time. So thank you for being a villager to help push the message forward. I don't think we could do these things enough, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was actually going to ask you, what is kind of the most common way that you use right now to get the message out and spread? Do you do a lot of tabling at every kind of event, things like that? So we're trying to switch it up a little bit for 2026. You can get back to the grassroots because I think that's what Sister Mary Vera did, right? So I think we're working on that and it's one cup of coffee at a time.

We just started a coffee with Vera House to mirror the coffee with a cop. And we had our first one yesterday at recess coffee, which was great and to see the people that came out and just to have a conversation. Yeah. So we'll be doing those, watch for those on our social media. we'll do that once a month. We're going to start doing maybe a happy hour once a month just to bring people in, just to talk through it, just even just to get to know each other and have a conversation and then to bring awareness. And we're going to get back into the churches, again, just having some people, I was out in Auburn the other day picking up a donation. And when I talked

about Vera House, the woman said, what is that? And I thought, oh my God, in Auburn, people don't know what Vera House is. So we got our work. cut out for us to get out there and educate people. Yeah. Schools, faith-based organizations, you know, everywhere, everywhere, anywhere that we can go. Things like this. Raise awareness. Yeah.

And social media, we're constantly pushing our social media because, let's face it, that's, you know, people are like this all day. Addicted to their phones. Exactly. So, but yeah, and I just remind people, I, you know, I live my life with a mantra of pay it forward. And if you notice any time I do anything on social media, my hashtag always has hashtag pay it forward. And I just want to remind everyone that, you know, if you are lucky enough to be in a situation where you're not fearing for your life, where you're not fearing for your kids' lives, pay it forward. You know, it's a blessing because people don't, people never want to be or expect to be in that situation, but somehow you find yourself in that situation. Right.

So if you're lucky enough to not be in that, think about the people who aren't and pay it forward in some way. That's fair. I like that. Minds out. Absolutely. Ladies, last thing I want to ask you is, because you mentioned something. Sister. Mary Vera.

I'm assuming that's where Vera House comes from. Just tell me that. Sure. So she was a nun back in the day that, you know, found women who were abused and hid them, right? Gave them a place to go and sleep. And, you know, I know that as we've grown, I think about her all the time. We got her photograph and we just got her a new frame. And so, you know, we have to pay attention to, like, what her drive and mission was from the very beginning.

And it's a hefty one, right? Because we've talked about it. It says we're going to end it. And so we got a lot of work to do. So I think better often to say, I hope she's watching out for us because we got a big hill to climb. Yeah. Yeah. Great.

What a great icon to focus on that too. Sure. And it's people like you that help us climb that because I follow what you do and you really do. You really do great work and you bring a lot of awareness to a lot of organizations in the area. We try to. Yeah. Yeah. We are good news, York.

Like I said, we can stay away from controversy and things like that. And sometimes, though, we get into things like this that aren't necessarily the most upbeat. But at the same time, the idea that there is help for these things is Beth News. And you have survivor stories, which are amazing. I mean, our shelter director, she was, she's a survivor of domestic violence that was helped by Vera House. And now she runs our shelter and helps these women navigate what, you know, what she went through. And now she does a great job. Yeah, she's engaged, happy, living her best life. And so, you know, when you see those survivor stories, you're like, this is why we do what we do. Yeah. You know. That's great. And it's, again, pay it forward. Right. Yeah. I love it. Ladies, we can talk about the endless list of programs and how they work and everything. But I think the best bet at this point is to let you get back to it. And tell folks to go to the website and check out all of these things. ShveraHouse.org. is the place to go for those things.

Check them out and sign up. I'm telling you, this charity preview car event is pretty awesome. It is. And the way they support Vira House specifically is buying the tickets through your site, right? Correct. Yeah. That's one unique thing about it is that it does support so many different organizations. But go ahead and grab some from Vira House and come out, have some cars and taste me dessert.

That's right. Have a good time. Ladies, any other things we should add, and then I'm going to ask you for just your socials and stuff. But anything else that we haven't really covered this morning? No, just, I think, just the awareness. And everybody knows somebody. So, you know, you don't have to take it into your own hands, hand it off to the professionals that do this every day. And we're here.

We're here to serve everybody. That's the thing. Even if you don't, if you're lucky enough to never need a service like, this, knowing that just so you can spread the word is huge. That's awesome. Absolutely great. So, ladies, thank you again for joining us. Come back anytime, especially when we get closer to some of your other events. We'll talk about them and, you know, all the good things that you're doing. Thanks for having us. Really. Thank you. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and everything is Vera House, Inc. That's our, that's our circles. So stay up to date with everything through that.

I love it. And one more time, the hotline number. 315-468, 3216. All right. And that's 24-hour. Awesome. We'll have all that in the descriptions and notes. Of course, if you're watching this, just look below and all that information will be there. You don't have to try to jot it down as we say it. But check out Vera House and follow along, Good News, York, for all kinds of more of these incredible interviews. We are very close to our move.

to our new location. So these are some of the final episodes in this studio. It's been fun, but I think the new spot is going to be incredibly cool. So thank you to everybody who's been watching and making that happen, especially our man Zach from Ads on the Go, our sponsor, Get AdsOnTheGo.com is the address. Check out to see his awesome mobile billboard truck. Danny's behind the board.

Mike is off somewhere in the Carolina. fishing. I don't think he'll send it. Good for him. But with that, peace up. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy.

Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at rs.com.