March 2026 Newsletter

InterAct's new website is live!

The new site distills InterAct's impact, services, and volunteer involvement opportunities into clear and intentional pages that are easy to navigate and responsive to both mobile and desktop users. A few highlights:

• The escape option for those who need to leave the site quickly is more clearly presented, and once deployed, you cannot use the back button to see the InterAct site. You'll also notice an accessibility button that enables users to adjust languages, colors, typeface, or have the text read aloud in one of 100 languages. Just click the little "Da Vinci man" as seen in the lower right corner above to reach the accessibility toolbar.
• The About Us pages include a powerful depiction of InterAct's impact as the only provider in Wake County of emergency and comprehensive care for families escaping domestic violence.
• Our services have been streamlined to better support people searching for help under the Get Help heading. Our wraparound services are categorized under immediate and ongoing support.
• For those looking for ways to give help, the Get Involved section clearly offers individual and group volunteer opportunities; ways to donate goods to the pantry, shelter, and Solace Center; and how to schedule a tour, request a speaker, or host a donation drive.
• Finally, the Pass It On page guides both shoppers and donors to the proper place.

We are excited that our designers and developers are training members of the staff to make changes and to keep calendars and news items up to date. If you see pages with "nothing to share" it is because we are learning to do that part ourselves!

We attended a special talent show recently featuring the children who are currently calling the InterAct emergency shelter home. Various kinds of talent were on display--all offerings accepted!--but what stood out the most was how the children encouraged each other.

If one felt shy, another took them aside to boost their confidence.

Therapeutic Services Program Administrator Towanda Garner emceed the event. She meets regularly with the children as a group, helping them deal with the emotions that are the result of exposure to domestic violence.

"They are learning to effectively deal with their anger, grief, and isolation and use their voices to share how they are feeling," she said.

Many of the young residents of the shelter have transitioned to new schools as well as a new home. The classes help build the positive aspects of relationships.

Their socialization benefits the parents as well as the children, Towanda said.

The Raleigh office of Plexus Corporation held a donation drive for the InterAct pantry and the results were amazing! Emily Koerner, left and Eirene Kowal delivered products on InterAct's urgent needs list at the perfect time. Plexus "helps create the products that build a better world," and they certainly created better situations for InterAct clients.

Sew Good, the busy sewing club at Carolina Preserve, delivered a bountiful harvest of pillowcases designed to appeal to shelter guests of all ages. The club welcomes accomplished seamstresses and beginning crafters, providing patterns and washed and cut fabric to make pillowcases for InterAct guests. The cases provide a welcome touch of home and colorful reminder that survivors are not alone.

The National Social Studies Honor Society chapter at Athens Drive High School hosted a donation drive for hygiene products. Students from across the school participated and the pictured results are just the tip of the iceberg. The Society did a great job marketing the opportunity for service hours to their fellow students.

Gayle Gonzalez Johnson, right, and family delivered gifts collected by their family during the Baha'i festival Ayyam-i-Ha--a special period of joy, hospitality, charity, and gift-giving. The family chose InterAct as the recipient of charitable gifts they collected as a group.

April 1 NCSU On Us Presentation, Solace Center Director Dot McFadden, 5:30 pm

April 2 Walk A Mile SAAM EVent, NCSU 10 am-Noon

April 7 Peace Univfersity Resource Fair, 11 am-1 pm

April 8 SAAM Take Back the Night, NCSU

April 9 UNC Rex Hospital Tabling Event, 11 am-1 pm

April 14 WakeMed Raleigh Tabling Event, 11-am-1 pm

April 15 WakeMed Cary Tabling Event, 11 am-1 pm

April 15 Peace University SA Presentation, Solace Center Director Dot McFadden, 3-4 pm

April 18 Wake County Raleigh Blvd. Health FAir, 1100 Raleigh Blvd.

April 22 WakeMed North Tabling Event, 11 am-1 pm

April 24 Wake ReEntry Resource Exchange, Wake County Commons, 10 am-2 pm

Members of InterAct's board of directors and administrative leadership gathered in March for a strategic planning retreat, facilitated by Partners for Impact. Pictured, left to right, Executive Director Rhonda Raney, board vice chair Amy Bason, InterAct Finance Director Meredith Riggs, David Sherlin, Lauren Prosser, board chair Jeronica Goodwin, Margaretann House, board treasurer Braxton O'Neal, InterAct chief development officer Walker Mabe, Liz Febles, InterAct HR director Lisa Manning, and Judge Vince Rozier.

So glad you are here.

InterAct is serving more clients than ever. Domestic violence and sexual assault are with us year-round. Your steady support is more important than ever.

Help us sustain our momentum and make an impact every day.

Click here to make a one-time donation, set up a recurring donation, or make a non-cash gift via your DAF, a stock transfer, or an IRA gift.

• Ms. Molly Foundation
• Nationwide Foundation
• Professional Properties Management (PPM)
• Wake County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

• United Methodist Women, Church at Six Forks
• Hitachi
• The Shepherd's Church

To schedule a donation, please email passiton@interactofwake.org.

Regular hours:

Fuquay-Varina 10 am to 4 pm M-F.

Raleigh 10 am-4 pm Tuesday-Friday.

Pass It On Thrift Stores support InterAct’s mission to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Ninety cents of every dollar you spend goes to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence. 

309 S. Main Street
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
919-557-8020

1012 Oberlin Road 
Raleigh, NC 27605  
919-865-1601

www.interactofwake.org/passiton

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