J-School Project: Funding for East End Women's Shelter

This is the sixth installment in a series of profiles on Stony Brook University journalism students' senior project submissions. They range from Latina teen pregnancies to craft breweries on Long Island. Check back every day for further editions.

J School student Maria Piedrabuena chronicles the success and the struggles of , a domestic violence agency that runs a shelter on the East End. She chronicles the life of Bella Christ, a victim for more than two decades, who found refuge in The Retreat just when she'd reached a point when she might commit a crime in retaliation.

Unfortunately, a sluggish economy has made it difficult for The Retreat in two ways: not only does it mean fewer donations, on which it survives, from the public, but also the economy means more people are unemployed and increased stress levels at home as people try to make ends meet.

According to director Jeffrey Friedman, it's led to a dramatic increase in enrollment and fewer dollars to go around. In addition, there's a stigma attached to domestic violence shelters, and Friedman contends that people's donations go elsewhere as a result. It's a problem not only faced at The Retreat but at shelters Island-wide.

Read more about The Retreat by viewing Piedrabuena's website dedicated to the project.