Lincoln’s Friendship Home joins app to help domestic violence survivors find shelter

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Friendship Home will be using an app to help domestic violence survivors find a safe place to stay in Lincoln.

The app, SafeNight, works as a national network that supports survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault urgently seeking shelter.

When a shelter is full, people needing to escape a violent situation may not have a safe place to stay.  

SafeNight provides a space for those survivors at local hotel rooms, which are paid for by donations made on the app.

Shelters across the U.S. have been struggling with availability.  

Friendship Home said the need in Lincoln exceeds its occupancy capacity.

The app will help with the burden.

“Currently, we have 224 survivors of domestic violence and their children that we’re serving across the board, but 30 of those are still looking for the service through shelter,” said Dani Jurgens, the development director.

There are some minimal fees for the donations, but they are tax-deductible.

The Friendship Home is set to begin using the app on Saturday.