written by: Vanessa Conabee
Karen Marriott has spent 20 years living in and serving the Park City community, but her most recent endeavor—spearheading Peace House’s campaign to provide a campus for victims of domestic violence—will affect families for generations. A love of skiing and extended family brought Marriott to Utah, but her community involvement has grown lasting roots.
Karen Marriott’s service in Park City began with chairing Ski Ball fundraisers for the U.S. Ski Team and founding PC Teen Foundation to create safe and fun events for teens. Marriott is on the Women’s Giving Fund Grant Committee, a Park City Community Foundation board member and a co-founder of Marriott Daughters Foundation. But the cause closest to her heart is taking Peace House from a facility at an undisclosed location to a community campus providing emergency and transitional housing, a day care center, educational programs and counseling for domestic abuse survivors.
“I’m so excited about the impact the Peace House Community Campus will have on the lives of women and families who have suffered from abuse and that it’s not a hidden campus any longer. This simple message of ‘out of the shadows and into the light’ captures everything about the new campus,” Marriott says. The new campus will provide a safe, affordable and supportive home for up to two years for victims of domestic abuse. “The current shelter doesn’t provide the time, space or resources to allow a woman to truly rebuild her life and, not just survive, but thrive.”
CLOSE TO HOME
• 1 in 3 Utah women will experience intimate partner violence in their life.
• Last year, only a third of the clients from Peace House were able to find safe and affordable housing after leaving the shelter.
• According to the CDC, 80 Utah children this year will witness the murder or attempted murder of their mother by her spouse or intimate partner.
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See more inside our 2017 November/December Issue.
