Happy Holidays from us at The Nest Domestic Violence Shelter
Wishing you a joyful and safe holiday season! We are proud to share a few highlights from the final quarter of 2025. This edition was authored by Elias Cowie, one of our dedicated advocates. At our shelter, each advocate takes a leadership role in a specific area of operations to ensure the best care for our clients.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our staff, volunteers, and board, we continue to provide life-saving services every day. As you consider your year-end giving, please keep us in mind to help us end the cycle of abuse for good. If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic violence, our 24/7 hotline is always available at 866-378-6378.
Susanne Francis, Executive Director
Staff Spotlight
Bianca Carrillo
This season’s spotlight is on Bianca Carrillo, who is our newest shelter Advocate! She was born and raised in Mescalero, NM and has lived there all her life. She is very committed to helping others and using her voice to uplift our community. Her main goal is providing support, resources, and compassion to Mescalero survivors of Domestic Violence. We are so grateful to have her with us and look forward to learning and growing alongside her!
Shannon Miller
Our second Staff Spotlight is dedicated to Shannon Miller, who has been working at The Nest for over a decade! She is deeply dedicated to helping Domestic Violence survivors and educating others on the complexities of Elder Abuse. Since she started as an Advocate, she has done multiple educational presentations on Domestic Violence at local events, spreading awareness of the obstacles that our clients face after leaving their abuser. We are very lucky to have such a passionate Advocate here and look forward to many more years to come!
Sweet Charity
We’d like to give a big, loving shoutout to our newest Sweet Charity manager, LaMarque Petty, and sales associate, Celeste Dodd, for their incredible hard work and commitment, and a big “thank you” to our retired manager, Catherine Avery, for her dedication and passion!
*If you’re looking to support survivors of Domestic Violence, consider donating or shopping at Sweet Charity, located at 147 Mescalero Trail. Each donation goes directly to The Nest, and provides our clients with essential clothing, shoes, and more!
Community Outreach
On October 28th, 2025, our Shelter Advocates, Elias Cowie (left) and Melanie Loera (right), had an opportunity to do an educational presentation on Domestic Violence at Tularosa Middle School, educating students on abusive versus healthy relationships, and answering questions about the shelter, the program, and what our staff does everyday to help our clients. All of the students were very receptive, asked so many questions, and were a wonderful and engaged audience!
Client Success Story
A client we will call Mary, to maintain her confidentiality, had been through emotional and psychological abuse with her ex-boyfriend and her family for years. She came to the shelter, needing a way out, wanting to know how she could heal from all the previous years, learn to set firm boundaries, and live independently again. At first, she was very reserved, shy, and skeptical of whether she could trust other residents and the Advocates, but over time, she slowly came out of her shell.
(Photo does not depict actual client.)
She began cracking jokes, expressing her feelings through art, writing, and stories, and began to develop friendships with other residents. She learned to set firm boundaries with her old friends, and cut off unhealthy relationships. By the time she left the shelter, fully finishing the program, she had a wonderful new job, a new apartment, and developed a strong trust in herself for the first time in years.
A Big Thank You
The Nest would like to dedicate a huge, proud “thank you” to the board of directors that make client success stories like these possible. Thank you for your time, care, passion, and dedication to helping our survivors and assuring that our mission to end abuse for life is successful!
From left to right: Susanne Francis (Executive Director), Dara Jenkins, Kaycee Stahl, Amanda Foster (President), Tanya Tyler (Secretary), Dave Tomlin (Treasurer), Sal Lopez, and Lola McVey (Not pictured).
