STRENGTH THROUGH TEA & THINGS.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - A program that has helped hundreds of women here transform their lives after domestic violence or other traumas will open "Tea & Things" in a historic downtown building today.

Christa Loveland, the founder of the Women's Information Networking Services, said that the tea house will help fund the program's "T house" - a nickname for the group's long-planned Transformation House. That facility would provide a year of housing and services to help women move from crisis to self-sufficiency.

But the small shop full of dainty china cups and other tea accessories will serve as much more than a program fund-raiser, she stressed.

"We are a self-advocacy, self-development program," she said. "This will also be a place for women to display and sell their artwork and crafts." That will help move participants toward financial independence, she said, as well as meeting another need.

"I've observed from my own experience that sometimes when women have been through a crisis or trauma, a phenomenon occurs," she said. "There's a creative energy that comes out of trauma, which I think is our way to heal ourselves. If there's a venue for that creativity, the healing process accelerates."

Loveland is herself a survivor of domestic violence whose journey toward self-sufficiency has included a degree in family and human services and recent acceptance into a commuter master's of social work program at Portland State University.

She founded WINS in a small, donated office three years ago and served 10 to 12 clients weekly that first year.

Now the group has its own 4,000-square-foot office, as well as the tea house space, and serves 40 to 50 clients weekly with emergency shelter vouchers, baby items, therapist services and involvement in the group's weekly networking meeting.

Network members, including volunteer therapists, were busy this week putting the finishing touches on Tea & Things in preparation for today's 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. grand opening downtown at 19 N. Sixth St. Some hung colorful butterfly mobiles from the ceiling - symbols of WINS' mission of metamorphosis.

Others stocked display shelves with such wares as The Tea Lady organic teas - grown by women heads of households in Asia and Africa.

Meanwhile, artist and network member Melinda Edelblute drew raves from other volunteers as she unpacked the Swarovski crystal necklaces she will sell here as part of her Isabel Rose jewelry line.

Beginning next week, Tea & Things will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The shop will sell hot teas, but has only one sit-down table, so Loveland said that she expects to sell most drinks as "to go" tea for merchants, workers and shoppers .

"We'll also have tea samples for people to taste," Loveland said.

CAPTION(S):

Christa Loveland, director of the Women's Information Network Services, is excited about today's opening of Tea & Things in Cottage Grove. The WINS business will help victims of domestic violence and other traumas. Volunteers help prepare Tea & Things for its opening today in downtown Cottage Grove. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard A sign at Tea & Things speaks to the positive outlook the WINS program takes. The business will sell crafts and artwork made by program participants and area artists.