ZeroV, the Commonwealth’s leading domestic violence coalition, is celebrating over 40 years of making a difference in Kentucky’s communities.
Angela Yannelli, chief executive officer for ZeroV said most of the organization’s work is done in its 15 domestic violence shelters across the state that service all 120 counties, 24 hours a day.
“Our 15 programs, they have an array of services. They are all critical, they are all lifesaving. Some of these include crisis intervention, safety planning, legal, medical, housing advocacy, individual, group counseling and of course, emergency shelter,” Yannelli said.
Yannelli added in the 2025 fiscal year alone, ZeroV served 14,000 adults and children. On top of that, officials said ZeroV also has a housing branch that provides food, transportation, as well as rental and utility subsidies. She added that almost 200 families were served in this housing branch with 125 of them including children.
Mary Foley is the Director of Merryman House, one of the 15 shelters. She said her nonprofit shelter offers safety to all survivors.
“I think sometimes that word survivor, we can lose what that means. We have little survivors too, right? Our littlest survivors, they get services as well. Because we serve men, women, and children, not just adults with children and there is a difference there,” Foley said.
She added of the 972 survivors her shelter served, 122 of them were children. Foley said 60 percent of survivors who come through their doors are assessed as high risk for death and serious physical injury from the domestic violence they were experiencing.
More information on ZeroV and the Doves of Gateway shelter, which, serves the mid-eastern Kentucky area, is available at zerov.org.