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The Mission of Sunrise is to provide protection, sustenance and a healing environment to
those persons who have suffered physical or emotional abuse or sexual assault.
Our Funders
Sunrise is supported in part by the Department of Children & Families, United Way of
Pasco County (www.unitedwaypasco.org), Victims of Crime Act, Violence Against Women
Act, the Department of Health and through private foundations.
Equal Access
Our services are available to all victims regardless of race, religion, color, national origin,
age, mental or physical disability, culture, sexual orientation, gender, citizenship,
immigration status, marital status or language spoken.
1982: Sunrise of Pasco County, Inc. was founded by a formerly battered woman. It was
her goal to provide services to victims of domestic violence who resided in East Pasco
County. Her efforts resulted in the creation of a program housed in a small office in the
Dade City Hall. The original program provided counseling and advocacy services to
women in crisis. Dedicated volunteers provided up to three nights of housing in their
own homes for women who could not safely return to theirs. The need for services
bombarded the small program in a very short amount of time.
1987: Monies were raised to lease a house that could accommodate up to 14 women
and children needing shelter care. The rental property also included a small cottage that
was converted for us as an office for counseling services and for administrative duties.
Although the increase in shelter beds were much needed, the continued growth of
domestic violence had the shelter overbooked within its first year of operation.
1991: Funding was received from the State of Florida to purchase the rental property and
additional funding was provided by Pasco County's Community Development Block
Grant Program to build a 24 bed facility on the same property. The old shelter was then
modified to be used as a larger office space.
1997: Gateway transitional housing was opened in Zephyrhills. Ten transitional
apartments were constructed to help women and their children leaving shelter have
more time to stabilize their lives.
1998: Construction began on the Outreach Offices/Thrift Store completed. Dedicated as
the Sumner building in memory of local resident Amy Sumner, the new space was
purchased through a Community Development Block Grant. The Sumner building
allowed Sunrise to separate administrative and intake services from shelter services to
ensure that the shelter location and its residents remained confidential.
The new building also included space for the Solutions thrift store Program. The thrift
store was created to exclusively support client programs. A range of items donated by
the community are sold at the thrift shop staffed by volunteers.
1999: The Gateway Transitional Housing Program was acquired by Affordable Housing
Ventures; a non-profit organization that manages this type of property for individuals in
need of affordable housing. The program continues to accept eligible clients referred by
Sunrise.
2001: Sunrise leases the former Victory Family Worship Center and relocates the
Solutions Thrift store. The new space addressed the problems of insufficient space for
retailing and storage that had plagued the original site. This property was purchased in
2002.
2005: Sunrise of Pasco County hosts its first annual Peace Breakfast at the Tampa Bay
Golf and Club with over 200 in attendance and Keynote address made by best-selling
author Fawn Gerber.
