A poster of a white daisy hangs on a sky blue wall. A telephone and a box of Kleenex rest on a white wicker table surrounded by matching wicker chairs and a couch. Children’s toys lie in a heap in the corner. A poster in the corner reads, “All feelings are OK. It’s what you do with them that counts.”

This room is a step up from the “walk-in closet” sized counseling room the assault care center has been using for the past 22 years. It’s one of two large counseling rooms in the new ACCESS building, which can shelter more survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in the Ames area.

After a few weeks in the new facility, ACCESS staff members are still unpacking boxes and transferring items between locations but said they and their clients are already enjoying the much-needed extra space.

Staff members knew they’d outgrown the previous 15-bed facility when they began denying shelter to more than one family each week for lack of room. In August, their last full month in the old building, 29 women and 24 children were turned away. Finding a shelter in Des Moines, Marshalltown or Fort Dodge is the next best option for those families, said Julie Wooden, assistant director for ACCESS.

“It became apparent to us that we needed more space to meet the needs of the clients who were contacting us,” Wooden said.

“The structure [of the old building] wasn’t conducive to meeting all their needs as best we could.”

ACCESS shelters about 150 people from Story and Boone counties each year, recently adding Greene county to their service area. They also field more than six crisis calls each day from people in abusive situations, according to ACCESS statistics.

Ann Greenfield, executive director, said when staff began to consider relocating in 2001, they wanted to build a shelter specifically designed to meet ACCESS’ needs. Staff members toured new facilities in Sioux City and Council Bluffs for inspiration but found it in an existing building that went up for sale around the same time.

“The building just fell into our lap,” Wooden said. “Things came together very quickly.”

ACCESS is halfway toward raising $600,000 of the $800,000 loan used to purchase the building through a community campaign, which includes fund raisers and requests for private donations.

The other $200,000 will come from the sale of the old building and grants, said Adam Stark, shelter operations coordinator.

Greenfield said ACCESS is asking the community to make a commitment to the agency and to the people who need its services.

“We have every reason to believe that the community will support this because I think they value having a place like this for people involved in abusive situations to go,” she said.

ACCESS’ relocation comes at a time when many shelters across Iowa are facing cuts to their services. The Iowa legislature voted not to reinstate $2 million to the State Domestic Abuse and Sexual Abuse Grant program, which was part of Gov. Tom Vilsack’s proposed fiscal year 2004 budget, according to the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Stark said ACCESS has experienced the effects of those cuts in small ways but may get hit harder next year.

“We’ve been really lucky and have gotten small cuts the last two years. The cuts haven’t been enough to really jeopardize anything,” Stark said. “Future cuts probably won’t affect our services, but it may affect the amount of advocates available to provide those services.”

The building’s location is kept confidential but is within city limits with access to CyRide, grocery stores and post offices, things the clients living at the shelter need to continue their lives, Wooden said.

The facility was designed to be a mass shelter and will hold 24 beds and provide more space for ACCESS clients and their children. Only minor renovations were needed, including adding a playground, fence, security system, chair lift, aluminum siding and windows.

Half of ACCESS’ clients are children; half are adults. About 96 percent of those adults are women, but ACCESS also offers services to men. Their new facility has a suite that could be made into longer-term housing or used to shelter male clients.

For some clients, the shelter is a short stop on a journey to move closer to family after an abusive relationship ends. For most, it’s a support system and a safe place to live for women and children who may or may not go back to the relationship. The average stay is 30 days, according to ACCESS statistics.

“First and foremost, the shelter gives them a bed, a roof and supplies like clothing and food,” Wooden said. “Our primary concern is to meet their basic needs. Then, an advocate works with them on ways to overcome their barriers and connects them with other resources in the community.”

Volunteers and staff members, called advocates, can help clients locate financial help, look for a job and search for housing.

“Everyone has different challenges, different needs and different barriers,” Wooden said. “As a staff, we assess each case and help the client decide what’s realistic.”