On Dec. 31, 2012, a young Berryville mother, Laura Aceves, lost her life trying to escape her abuser. She had moved as far away from him as she could – to a small apartment complex in the next town on a road lined with purple flowers in the spring; a road to someplace safe.
Instead, she was murdered in that apartment on the road out of town, with her 4-month-old child left crying beside her. Three weeks before she was killed, police had arrested her abuser for violating a no-contact order but released him the next day without bail, even though his violence toward Laura had escalated and he was already out on bail awaiting trial for earlier assaults against her.
“At that time, we learned there were no services for victims in the county,” Shiloh Grace, current executive director of The Purple Flower, said.
By 2014 The Purple Flower Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Resource and Support Center of Carroll County had been established out of a response to Laura’s death, anticipating that no one would again be without help in the county.
The Purple Flower provides support, advocacy, resources, education, and the empowerment to break cycles of violence and heal trauma. In 2025 alone, TPF has provided more than 1000 lifeline services to hundreds of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking in Carroll County.
Half of TPF’s annual budget had been covered for the past five years by a federal grant program through the US Department of Justice’s Victims of Crime Administration (VOCA). This funding concluded on October 1, the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month,
“Though we applied for all applicable federal grant funds, only six domestic violence organizations were funded at that level for the entire state. Arkansas is one of only nine states that does not budget for such services at all at the state level; and there are no related funds available at the Northwest Arkansas, regional, Carroll County or city levels,” Grace noted.
“We have written dozens of grant proposals attempting to tap into other government, corporate and private funds and are very grateful to the few local sources that have said yes, such as Carroll County Community Foundation, Tyson, and Walmart – but right now we are mostly surviving through the generosity of local donors, organizations, churches and businesses,” Grace said.
“The Purple Flower serves over 300 clients each year with an average of twenty new clients each month. Our advocacy for survivors is provided through the dedicated service of our small staff of three part-time contractor advocates, along with our part-time office manager and myself.
“On average, it costs $900+ to serve each client with crisis line staffing, safety planning, emergency safe lodging, transportation, legal fees, essential personal belongings and such,” Grace said. “What we need most is dependable funding through our new Circle of Hope monthly giving program, which is literally paying our rent now,” Grace said. “We, of course, are grateful for one-time gifts of any amount, in-kind donations like travel-sized personal hygiene products, shelf-stable food, silent auction items, and, of course, volunteers. Information about ways to help and more are available on our website, thepurpleflower.org, and Facebook page.”
Help changes lives
A brother and sister subjected to severe physical and sexual violence while held captive by a sex and labor trafficking ring were helped to escape to a shelter with specialized human trafficking support services. Several sexual assault victims, both female and male, have been met at the Eureka Springs Hospital emergency room and helped. A disabled survivor was rescued in the heat of summer from a shed in the woods with no water or electricity where she had been held captive and assaulted for months. Emotional support, safety planning, court advocacy, community service referrals and financial assistance was provided to dozens of single moms with young children fleeing abusers so they could not only escape safely but also stabilize their lives here in Carroll County rather than having to uproot from family/community support systems and pull their kids out of school to go to a shelter in a surrounding county or state.
“We helped one tenacious survivor whose abuser chased her all over the country finally get free through rapid relocation through a network of interstate shelters,” Grace said, “and then reunited her with her emotional support doggy through a chain of pet transport volunteers.”
Heartbreaking stories are endless, and each circumstance is unique. The Purple Flower team honors each survivor’s path and empowers them to make their own choices about each step to safety, freedom and dignity.
“I grew up around Eureka Springs in a family that could have used this kind of support when it didn’t exist,” Grace said, “so I felt called back home last summer to lead The Purple Flower as executive director. Those who arrive at this high-stress emotional labor all have their own personal stories and find that the intensive training necessary to become victim services advocates also becomes part of our own healing journeys. None of us are in it for the money as we all make sub-poverty wages with no benefits and no job security, especially now that we’ve lost the federal grant funding which paid staff for the past five years.
“Personally, I have always felt a profound need to feel useful and stay anchored in community, so serving as director was a natural evolution of many decades of community organizing and program/team leadership experience in the nonprofit and business sectors.”
Grace has served several impactful missions, most of them anchored in a deep belief that all beings deserve safety, dignity and belonging. Her prior position as Director of Digital Design for ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, included leading empathy-based planning for innovative fundraising strategies at one of the largest and most successful nonprofits in the world.
As yet, there is no emergency shelter in Carroll County, instead short-term emergency lodging is provided through local hotel partnerships and transport services to shelters in surrounding counties. Advocates provide mobile support across the county by answering the 24/7 crisis line and driving to meet the need wherever it is.
For help or more info, call or text (479) 981-1676 (24/7) or email info@thepurpleflower.org.
All services are free and confidential.
Thank you so much for helping us get the word out about the urgent need for community support to continue our mission at The Purple Flower.