Once a Victim, Chef Creates Agency to Aid Other Women
By Celeste Ward TIMES STAFF WRITER

KAREN JUSTIC, former victim of domestic violence, planned a shoe sale as a part of a walk-a-thon to benefit Safe Havens for Little People, a nonprofit company Justice started for abused women and children..

CONCORD: It was more than 15 years ago when Karen Justice Guard scrambled away from a knife-wielding boyfriend, running blindly into the darkness and falling 30 feet off a cliff.

She broke her leg as she tumbled into a creek, but her fear and pain were not over. The cycle of mental, physical and spiritual abuse went on for years.

She finally left him — as many domestic violence victims do — when she saw the pattern bleeding into the next generation.

"The lowest point was when my son said to me, 'How come you let people hit you or abuse you?'" Guard said.

Those episodes are now what Guard refers to as "chaos" and "drama" — the cycle of abuse she found herself in as she used drugs and refused to face her emotions. She calls it self-victimization, and she wants to help others escape.

"I've been down the streets of addiction, welfare and domestic violence," said Guard, now 40 and sober through a 12-step program. "It was not until I could look within myself that I could free myself. People in addiction don't think things out. We self-victimize by putting ourselves in harm's way."

When her father died last year, Guard used her inheritance to start her own nonprofit company, Safe Havens for Little People. She is creating the agency in phases, and her goal is to make it self-sustaining. Guard, a chef and former restaurateur, sells bottled water and gourmet sauces with her charity logo and markets them locally at Lunardi's Markets in Walnut Creek.

In December she opened the Concord store Safe Havens Product & Services Shoppe, selling children's clothing, toys, crafts and plants.

Guard plans to expand the program to include a vegetarian restaurant, a computer lab and a job-training program for abused women. Safe Havens is working with the Contra Costa County Welfare-to-Work program as a potential job-training site. Employees of the county Department of Social Service say they are impressed with Guard's drive.

"I think she's done a tremendous job of pulling together a program in an area of need," said Elaine Grothmann, who works in the department. "She's very dynamic."

Recently, Safe Havens received a donation of 100,000 pairs of athletic shoes from C.U.R.A. Inc., a Fremont drug recovery program. Guard and volunteers will sort the shoes to be sold as part of a walk-a-thon called "Stamp Out Abuse," which Guard is planning for October."

She said she has always dreamed of running a program but did not expect such overwhelming support from people in the community. The Clayton Road warehouse for her shop in Concord is a gift from business owner David Marr, and after the donation of all the shoes, Guard received warehouse space from a local couple.

"When it's supposed to happen, doors just open," she said.

And she has confidence that she one day will run a complete job-training and recovery center for domestic violence victims and their children.

"God has gifted me with a vision. People tell me, 'Karen, you're crazy. Your vision is way too big.' But I know what I need to do."

KAREN JUSTICE, a former victim of domestic violence, is planning a shoe sale as part of a walk-a-thon in October to benefit Safe Havens for Little People, a nonprofit company Justice started for abused women and children. She is looking for volunteers to help sort the athletic wear in Concord.