By Carmen M. Hubbard

CATHEDRAL DEANERY — When battered women and their children seek a fresh start from an abusive relationship, they find safety and security in transitional housing.

The Tom Geiger Guest House in Walnut Hills provides apartments on a temporary basis for low-income mothers and their children who have fled domestic violence. The YWCA of Greater Cincinnati provides an emergency shelter for battered women and refers them to the Geiger House, which has offered a temporary refuge to 300 women and 500 children.

COURTESY PHOTO

Children in temporary residence at the Geiger House have access to this play area.

"I felt such a relief in knowing that I was not going to wind up out on the streets," the anonymous woman wrote. "I had not realized what a tremendous strain the last few weeks had been on me. My relief and my gratefulness was profound. I had a place to stay."

With a new executive director and new board members, officials say they hope "fresh blood" will help raise awareness about the Geiger House and generate additional funding.

"I like the mission of the Geiger House," said Bob Ehrsam, executive director. "It’s not operated as a faith-based organization, but is supported by the Catholic community."

Ehrsam, a member of St. Anthony Parish in Madisonville, retired from the private sector and earned a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from the Athenaeum of Ohio. He worked for Volunteers of America before taking the helm at the Geiger House. It was an opportunity for Ehrsam to pursue what interests him most — faith-based organizations and social action.

What used to be Assumption School has been renovated into 42 units of one, two and three-bedroom apartments — 24 units for the abused women and their children, and 18 apartments for families with disabilities. Twelve apartments were converted from the school’s gymnasium named Bokenkotter House after the Geiger house’s founder, Father Tom Bokenkotter. Other properties affiliated with the Geiger House include six units in the Josephine House, located in Mount Auburn, and 12 apartments in the Gertrude House.

However, renovation of a resource center in the Geiger House complex has yet to be completed because rising material and labor costs have absorbed federal grants and donations.

"We have a significant financial challenge. We can’t run this place totally reliant on (government) subsidies. Times have always been kind of tough," said Ehrsam, who is one of four employees of the Geiger House.

Father Bokenkotter, pastor of Assumption Church and president of the board of directors for the Geiger House, implemented the idea of providing transitional housing to women and their children in Cincinnati after visiting a facility with the same outreach in New York City in the 1980s.

"When I came back to town, I thought we should have something like that and I decided to open a shelter," he said.

Father Bokenkotter, a former theology professor at Xavier University, had opened the Over-The-Rhine Soup Kitchen in 1976. At the time he was an instructor at the Athenaeum of Ohio, where Tom Geiger was studying. Geiger was a student of Father Bokenkotter and became a dedicated volunteer at the soup kitchen.
"He decided to make it his mission and was very dedicated to the people. He was a remarkable person," Father Bokenkotter said.

Geiger left the seminary to devote his time to coaching wrestling at Archbishop McNicholas High School in Mount Washington and continue at the soup kitchen. He did in 1984 at the age of 32.

With the renovation of the transitional housing underway, Father Bokenkotter thought it would be fitting to bestow Geiger’s name since the mission of the soup kitchen to help those in need would be the same for the transitional housing. Father Bokenkotter attributes the Geiger House’s longevity to its committee and their dedication.

"You can never go wrong when you’re trying to follow the Gospel. I always felt I could do a lot more but I just tried to do what I could," said Father Bokenkotter, 84. "We work with a network. We’ve served over 100 women. The Geiger House provides a facility, and the YWCA provides counseling and finding a job."

He added that each past and present member of the board of directors as well as former executive director John Convery, who retired nearly a year ago, has brought unique skills to the organization.

Longtime board member Meg Collins is now second vice-president to the board of directors for the Geiger House. She became involved with the organization as a way to continue her work of assisting victims of domestic violence.

"I lived in Houston where my former housekeeper was beaten by her husband," said Collins of Anderson Township. "I told her she didn’t have to live with that because the day would come when he’d kill you. I said, ‘I would miss you, your children would miss you and my two-year-old son would miss you.’"

New board member Stephen Mullin joined the organization after learning about it from a flyer he saw as a participant in the Flying Pig Marathon last spring.

"There are a lot of dedicated people. We’re all there for the same reason to help," he said. "I really like the fact it’s a clear cut service that we deliver — a secure, safe place for women and their children to go when they have no place else to go to. It’s a path to independent living."

For more information about the Tom Geiger Guest House or to make a donation, visit their Web site at: www.tomgeigerguesthouse.com.