Gr8 Acts of Kindness winner defends victims of domestic violence

ASH DUZ, Ark. (KAIT) – Many times they hide in plain sight. Victims of domestic violence are everywhere.

October’s Gr8 Acts of Kindness meets them where they are. He sees them, hears them and offers a way out.

“I thought I was done,” said domestic violence survivor Ruth Greenwood. “I didn’t know what to do, where to go.”

Greenwood found himself trying to survive in rural Sharp County.

Greenwood and his fiancee had moved from Vermont.

“I mean, there was always verbal abuse, he was very controlling when I wasn’t allowed to make any friends or anything,” Greenwood said.

Then it got physical.

“He came at me like he was going to strangle me,” Greenwood said. “I had big bruises on my hip where he kicked me as I walked out the door.”

Greenwood ran to a neighbor for help.

“I was scared. I was scared to death,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood then called the police.

“That’s when the officer texted me about Safe Night Ministries,” Greenwood said, her voice cracking a little even as she thought about it.

The nonprofit helped Greenwood obtain a restraining order against his fiancée and obtain temporary housing.

But getting there was a process.

Greenwood had to live under these conditions; cooking and washing by the fire.

Safe Night Ministries would come and pick him up so he could do laundry and take hot showers. They gave him blankets and propane for his little heater.

“Sometimes they come in and they feel so defeated,” said Karen Bagwell, Founder of Safe Night Ministries.

Bagwell said he was also in a physically abusive relationship between the ages of 18 and 21.

Her first husband moved to another state, isolating her from family and friends.

“Then it got physical and stayed that way for a long time. Basically what happened was I got pregnant and he didn’t want to have a child and he tried to make me lose that child and at that point, that’s when I had the presence of mind to get out,” Bagwell said.

All these years later, the sister said God put it in her heart to help those who couldn’t help themselves.

Bagwell recalled how he survived a nightmare in a hotel one night.

“I didn’t have a lot of money and I was afraid to go home after work, so I took what money I had and got a hotel room to be safe,” Bagwell said. “And God said to me: ‘Can you at least do this for them now?’”

This is where the name of the ministry comes from.

“He would go on rescue missions and pick people up and pay out of his own pocket for people to stay in the hotel,” volunteer Hannah Rikard said. “He would make sure they had food to eat and that they were safe.”

The organization now has a safe house and support groups.

“This ministry saved my life,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood has just married a man who respects and loves her. He also has a new home.

All of her sisters from the Ministry of Safe Nights were with her through the turbulent times and now.

Everyone shouted “Surprise” when Karen Bagwell walked into what she thought would be a TV interview about domestic violence.

The entire room is filled with friends, family members, Safe Night Ministries board members, and attorneys working on behalf of the organization.

“You are the next winner of Gr8 Acts of Kindness!” K8 News Anchor Diana Davis told Bagwell, and the crowd responded with a huge round of applause as $408 was counted into her hand.

Then, one by one, people in the crowd surrounded him, hugged and congratulated him.

If you would like to learn more about Safe Night Ministries, go to: safe-night.org. You can also call 870-955-5000 and send donations Mailbox 669, Ash Plain, AR 72513.

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