A grassroots group in rural Kentucky is trying to fill a gap that's already cost five lives

Silent Cry Inc. is building something Clark County has never had- and they're doing it from scratch.

"I'm Shay McAlister, and this is Shay Informed: an independent, ad-free platform dedicated to honest journalism with compassion and clarity.

Are you new here? Sign up for the free weekly newsletter or subscribe to support our mission and access behind-the-scenes content, podcasts, and in-depth stories reserved for paid subscribers.

Ashley Kimbleton from Winchester, KY, sent me an email earlier this year that I couldn't stop thinking about.

She wasn't pitching a story in the traditional sense. She was taking a long shot- her words- after nearly a year of hitting walls. She'd reached out to the courthouse. To local officials. To state representatives. Nobody, she said, cared enough to listen.

So she reached out to me.

"Kentucky is the 2nd highest state in America for domestic violence," she wrote. "In 11 years, Clark County has had 5 murders directly tied to domestic violence."

She went on to explain something that sounds almost impossible in 2025: there is essentially nowhere close for a domestic violence victim in Clark County to go.

According to zerov.org, there are just 15 domestic violence shelters in the entire state of Kentucky. The closest one to Clark County is GreenHouse17 in Lexington- a shelter that serves 17 counties. Because of that demand, it is frequently full and not accepting new clients.

Ashley didn't just see this as a statistics problem. She'd lived it alongside a friend.

"When she went to the hospital, an officer didn't wait with her," Ashley told me recently. "So I waited with her. When we went to court, the only resource they gave her was information for the Vine system"- the notification service that tells victims when a perpetrator has been arrested or released- "and that was it. And that bothered me."

It should bother all of us.

What happens when there's nowhere to go

In her email to me, Ashley laid out the practical reality of what a lack of local shelter means for victims- and it's a cascade of losses.

If you've been beaten and you have no means of transportation, you can't get to Lexington. If you do somehow get there, you likely can't commute back to a job in Clark County. So you lose the job. And if you have children, they lose their school, their friends, the stability of what little normal life they had left.

"That isn't a reasonable solution whenever you've been beaten half to death, and you've lost everything," she wrote.

She's right. And she decided she was done waiting for someone else to fix it.

Enter Silent Cry Inc.

Since that email, Ashley has connected with Brenda Mar Stella- a Casey's Law advocate, licensed hairdresser, and former therapeutic foster parent with a decade of experience working alongside women and children in crisis. Together, along with a growing circle of volunteers, they've formed Silent Cry Inc.

The name itself is intentional. As Brenda explained it: "We have to listen to what they're not saying."

In roughly 12 weeks of meetings, what this group has built is remarkable for a volunteer organization just finding its footing.

They have their EIN. Their 501(c)3 status is in process. They've already held fundraisers. They've connected with local businesses and the housing authority- having the conversations they need to have to put their big plan into motion.

"We've got a sober living place on every corner," Brenda said, "but we don't have one place for women and kids. So we're going to make our own resources."

The end goal: a shelter with transitional housing

What Silent Cry is ultimately working toward is a shelter in Clark County with 30 to 90 days of transitional housing for women and children fleeing dangerous situations. They envision a separate facility for meetings, support groups, and programming- kept apart from the residential space for safety. Down the road: an emergency response team, dedicated rooms for sex trafficking survivors, and eventually an expansion to neighboring communities.

Brenda wants to work on the inside and the outside. "They may come in beat down," she said, "but when they walk out, they're going to have some self-confidence and know who they are."

One detail that struck me: they're also developing their own curriculum around what Brenda calls "grieving the living"- the specific, complicated grief that comes with leaving an abusive relationship with someone who is still alive.

"You always hear of grieving the dead," she said. "What about grieving the living? You can't hardly find any material on that at all."

Financing is the missing piece. Grants are available, but the process is slow and requires the 501(c)3 designation they're actively pursuing. In the meantime, they're building community, momentum, and the kind of goodwill that makes big things possible.

Five names. Twelve years. 13,000 people.

Winchester, the seat of Clark County, has a population of roughly 13,000 people. In the last 12 years, five women in that community have been killed in incidents directly tied to domestic violence- women who, Ashley was careful to note, had done everything they were told to do to keep themselves safe.

They were Sheila Smith, 34, who died in May 2021. Esther Meza, 22, who died just two months later in March of that same year. Mary Ann Bishop, 38, killed in August 2013. Melanie Gabbard, 54, who died in December 2015. And most recently, Ava Brantley, 35, who was killed in October of last year.

Ava's mother plans to speak at the rally. Her daughter's name- and the names of the four women before her- are part of why Silent Cry exists.

"When it happens, they report it for a few days," Ashley said, "and then it's on to the next story."

That ends here.

A rally, and a way to help

Silent Cry Inc. is holding a community rally on Saturday, June 6th at 15 Wheeler Ave, in Winchester, to raise awareness and begin connecting with the people they hope to serve. It will be a full community event- local bands, food, and even the Clark County Fire Department will be there to spray water for kids to play in.

At the end of the rally, they plan to release white ribbon balloons bearing the names of the five women Clark County has lost in recent years.

"Even if just one person at the rally needs help," Ashley said, "if we can connect with them and get them resources- we've done what our goal is."

For those outside of Clark County who want to support Silent Cry's work: donations can be made via Cash App, and their PayPal is coming soon. Sharing their story, Ashley says, is just as valuable."If every person who sees it shares it, we may reach that many more people."

If you or someone you know is in a domestic violence situation in Kentucky, GreenHouse17 serves Clark County and can be reached at (859) 253-0020. National resources are also available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233.

Like what you see? Learn more about Shay Informed here! This is honest journalism with compassion and clarity.