Terri Hamm puts in 90 hours each month at Volunteer Center of Napa Valley.

Like most staffers at the center, she does not get paid, and she is doing difficult work. A volunteer at the center since 2006, she helps victims of domestic violence survive a difficult passage through court appearances and back towards stable lives.

Hamm is a tireless advocate, even though her clients’ trips home often do not yield happy endings.

“It’s not emotionally hard on me, because I know that is the process that some people need to take — to give them one more chance, especially when children are involved. ... We always hope that it will work out, but we know that the chances are very slim unless the abuser wants to change and gets help to change.”

Hamm’s work is just one facet of the Volunteer Center’s mission.

In addition to advocating for seniors and victims of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence, Volunteer Center employees and volunteers play a key role in county disaster preparedness planning and provide local volunteer recruitment opportunities and referrals. The center serves some 1,500 clients a year.

But Chris Piper, the organization’s executive director, says the state budget stalemate is endangering the center’s ability to continue offering these services.

State grant money provides the bulk of the center’s operating budget, and Sacramento lawmakers are now nearly two months late in completing the state budget.

For local agencies like the Volunteer Center, the stalemate means long-term pain. Because of the procedures for reimbursing local agencies, it is likely to be November or later before the center gets support from the state, even if a budget is passed tomorrow.

“At this point, we need to do some urgent fundraising,” said Piper. “We need $50,000 or $60,000 right now to get through the state budget impasse.”

In an effort keep costs at bay, the Volunteer Center recently eliminated five paid positions — a reduction from 24 to 19 jobs — and dismantled a youth recruitment program that simply didn’t have a reliable source of money. But Piper does not want to see cuts in the outreach to seniors and those trying to cope with domestic turbulence.

“The programs we offer are essential. There is no replacement for them anywhere else,” he said. “We are the resource for the whole county.”

Silent support

Napa County Deputy District Attorney Allison Haley said a little help from the Volunteer Center’s Victim-Witness Program goes a long way in keeping client-attorney communication flowing throughout the court process.

“With the caseload that I have, I simply don’t have the means to reach out to everyone,” she said. Volunteer Center workers inform victims about the criminal justice process and support them during difficult days of testimony or the sentencing of family members.

“They are really a liaison between me and the victims,” Haley said. “We always like to have the advocate there because that’s their ‘safe’ person.”

As the sole bilingual advocate at the Volunteer Center’s Sexual Assault Victim Services division, Araceli Vargas, like Hamm, is a familiar sight at the criminal courthouse. Often accompanying victims to preliminary hearings, trials and sentencings, Vargas provides emotional support to victims while helping them navigate the system. Vargas also refers victims and their families counseling and other services. Over the past four years, her estimated 100 clients have included local children, women and “one or two” men, she said, adding that she is currently working on about 25 cases.

With a staff of 19 and 80 volunteers, the Volunteer Center continues its fundraising mission as Hamm makes new connections with domestic violence victims in Napa County.

“A lot of people are afraid that they need an attorney,” she said. “Just to know there is somebody on their side to give them moral support and explain what will be happening to them can be a comfort to a lot of the victims.”