Willow Haven recently received back-to-back donations from Walmart Community Funding. Willow Haven photo.
When Amanda Jones founded Willow Haven in November 2025, her one simple goal was to make a real difference in the lives of people who are victims of domestic violence.
Now, barely 10 months after starting with nothing more than Jones’ own singular pulling force, Willow Haven is fast becoming one of Spartanburg County’s main relief hubs, most recently thanks to two Walmart grants of $1,050 and $750.
The grants will go toward Willow Haven’s Fresh Start Program, which not only helps domestic violence survivors and their children transition into safe, stable housing, but provides solid footing toward regaining their independence.
“People sometimes come to us with nothing but their clothes,” said Jones, who runs the endeavor with only herself and a handful of others. “And our goal is to get them stabilized, safe, and supporting themselves.”
For example, just the two grants from Walmart could help provide approximately one week of temporary hotel lodging for a domestic violence survivor or family in crisis while they work toward permanent housing.
Or it could help furnish approximately two homes for survivors and their children beginning a new chapter.
Those furnishings include household items, sofas, shoes, clothes, desk frames, pots, pans, appliances, and utensils – all of which are kept at the Willow Haven boutique at 2991 Whitestone-Glendale Road.
The biggest up-front need? Bedding.
“Bedding is a basic need, and we try to get that set up immediately,” Jones said. “And so far, we have used donations to buy mattresses for 12 people.”
If you’re counting, these 12 are part of a larger total of 46 that Jones has helped in just the last year on nothing more than word-of-mouth and many pleas for funding.
“We have applied for dozens and dozens of grants – We are 100% donor-funded at this point,” she said. “And these two community grants are the first ones we have received from Walmart.”
And chances are they won’t be the last.
In February 2026, the FBI released its Domestic Relationships and Violent Crimes report for 2020-2024.
Over this five-year period, U.S. law enforcement agencies reported more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims – and an additional 1.1 million victims of domestic violence. Nearly 75 percent of the victims were female.
These facts are even more alarming considering that they have declined considerably from the 1970s.
At that time, the problem was so bad, that in 1973 in Los Angeles, homeless shelters provided 1,000 beds for men, and only 30 beds for women.
Even this was a vast improvement from just a few years before when domestic violence was deemed a private, personal matter, largely unrecognized and virtually ignored in the legal, medical, and social spheres.
But the problem, similar to what Jones has experienced, led women across the U.S. to form the Battered Women’s Movement under the slogan of ‘We will not be beaten’ – such that from 1975-1978, more than 170 battered women’s shelters opened across the country, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights named over 300 shelters, hotlines, and groups advocating for abused women.
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2015/10/15/domestic-violence-in-the-1970s/
Willow Haven was borne out of this same kind of need that Jones said she could no longer ignore.
“For nearly 20 years, I would quietly step in when families had nowhere else to turn,” she said. “I saw firsthand the gaps in the system, shelters at capacity, limited rural resources, long waitlists, and survivors forced to choose between danger and homelessness. So with Willow Haven, we try to bridge the gap between what shelters can offer and what out state needs. And we help in all 46 counties.”
While progress in the last 50 years has been slower than what Jones and others would like to have seen, signs have been hopeful of more aid to domestic violence victims.
The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in Columbia, for instance, works with 22 independently operated 501(c)(3) non-profit member organizations that provide confidential, direct services to survivors as well as prevention services and education.
To this end, the coalition was awarded a federal grant totaling $925,389 in 2024 to assist people affected by sexual assault.
Many survivors do not report abuse due to fear, stigma, or limited access to support. Underreporting is estimated to be even higher in cases of sexual violence.
“Almost 30% of women in South Carolina are raped during their lifetime, with over 50% estimated to experience some form of sexual violence,” said coalition executive director Sara Barber for the S.C. Dept. of Public Health in 2024. “This funding is critical to sustaining the services provided by rape crisis centers in communities across our state that provide hope, healing and a pathway to well-being for survivors of these devastating intimate assaults.”
https://dph.sc.gov/news/dph-awarded-doj-grant-assist-people-affected-sexual-assault
As for Willow Haven, Jones’ first donation came from a small business owner in Gray Court, S.C., who gave her $5,000 in January 2026 to carry out victim assistance.
And now with the Walmart grants, she is hoping that more people will not only get on board to help in any way they can, but recognize that while domestic abuse is not what it once was, it still has a long way to go before being wiped out.
“We often meet families at a point where they are ready to move forward, but don't have the financial resources or appropriate resources available to take that next step,” she said. “Something as basic as a security deposit, a safe place to stay, a bed to sleep in, or essential items for a new home can become a major barrier. So every little bit helps save lives, and support like allows us to help remove some of those barriers.”
