ROSE Advocates benefit dinner scheduled for October 3

The 25th Annual ROSE Advocates Benefit Dinner is scheduled for Monday, October 3 and will once again be held at the Vendome Events Center located at 309 State St. in Weiser.

 There will be no-host cocktails beginning at 6 p.m. with a prime rib of pork dinner beginning at 7 p.m.

 Cost is $35 per person, but there is a limited number of tickets available, the nonprofit capping the total at about 300. You can make reservations by calling (208) 414-1231.

 “We are just so happy to be back and doing this event,” said ROSE Advocates Executive Director, Dolores Larsen. “We have already been selling tickets, so I think people are ready to come back. It’s a fun event, a great event. The food is always outstanding.”

 Judy Sterling, former owner of Judy’s Weiser In, will be making pies. Current restaurant owners, Amy and Ben Vertner and Mauro Cavazos, and their staff are preparing the prime rib of pork. 

 Larsen’s husband, Eric, is a salesman for Falls Brand Independent Meat Company based in Twin Falls. The company has long donated product to area charity and benefit events and functions and has committed to supporting the benefit dinner.

 Also planned for the Oct. 3 event is a silent auction and raffle, featuring items such as wine baskets, food baskets, gift certificates, works of art, trip packages and more. Donations are needed, so Larsen and her staff are hoping the community continues to donate to this cause.

 ROSE Advocates will post pictures of the raffle and silent auction items on their website for an early preview. More information will be released as it becomes available at www.rosadvocates.org and on their Facebook page 

 The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for ROSE Advocates, which provides services to victims of sexual and domestic violence in six counties in Idaho and runs the Maple Tree House, a shelter located in Payette. 

 “The benefit dinner was put on hold during COVID, but we are now excited to bring it back,” Larsen said. “It has hurt the contact we normally would have with our community members.”

Funds are needed

 Absence of the annual dinner hurt financially, too, during a time when federal grant monies for such advocacy groups have been rapidly decreasing.

 Last year alone, ROSE Advocates lost $100,000 it would normally receive from federal grants that benefit the organization’s long list of services.

 The grants are not taxpayer based, rather come through the 1984 Victim of Crime Act (VOCA), which established the Crime Victim’s Fund. Administered through the Office of Victims of Crime, the fund provides financial assistance to victims of crime through state-based compensation programs, as well as indirectly through state grants that help finance victim service organizations such as ROSE Advocates.

 The money comes through fines levied on convicted criminals at the federal level, which have been shrinking. Larsen hypothesizes that VOCA monies have decreased as a result of COVID, a time when she believes more plea deals were made in lieu of restitution.

 “We don’t get money on plea deals and the funds have decreased tremendously,” Larsen said. “The state in past years has received about $17 million for 47 agencies in Idaho. Then it dropped down to $12 million and this next grant, which starts in October, has dropped down to $9 million.”

 In 2024, the funds are expected to decrease even further, to $6 million, leaving Idaho agencies scrambling to find ways to continue offering crucial services on ever-tightening budgets.

 For ROSE Advocates, it has meant cutting staff at a time when demand for its services has been increasing.

 Previously, the organization had 14 staff members across its six outreach locations and the shelter. Staff has now been cut down to nine.

 “We are running short, and we are so spread out,” Larsen said. “We have two offices right now that only have one person and, yes, there has been an increase in demand for our services.”

 Part of the problem is rooted in COVID.

 “There has been a lot of stress from job losses and isolation because you couldn’t go anywhere or do anything,” Larsen explained. “Kids were home, which means our child abuse reports went down because we believe our schools serve as one of our main reporters, but the numbers are climbing again.”

 Visit  www.roseadvocates.org to find out more about the organization.