CENTRAL KITSAP — For 15 years, Frank Ellerbroek and his team, including Nicole and Rick William, have been hosting a putt putt event to benefit YWCA’s ALIVE (alternatives to living in a violent environment) shelter program.

This year, about 72 businesspeople from Kitsap County gathered on Sept. 23 for the annual Linda Joyce YWCA Charity Putt Put event, to play putt putt, bid on silent auction items and eat food, and raise about $4,000 to $5,000 for the ALIVE shelter.

“I think us, as people in business and community leaders, when we have the connections out there in the community we should, somehow, give back. That’s the bottom line for me,” Ellerbroek said. “The community has given me so much … so why not utilize that, leverage that, and give something back? To me, that’s important.”

Ellerbroek said he began working with the YWCA 15 years ago when he proposed holding an ongoing, annual event to help raise money. He said Linda Joyce, then executive director, worked with them a lot, so when she passed away last year, they renamed the event in her honor.

“She was out here all the time,” he said. “She was a go-getter, a champion.”

Ellerbroek said they organized the event to benefit the ALIVE shelter due to its message.

“The ALIVE shelter program helps victims of domestic violence, and allows women and children to get into shelters in the area,” Ellerbroek said. “These shelters allow women to get stable again.”

Jackie Brown, director of YWCA Kitsap County’s shelter and housing programs, said this fundraising event is “huge.”

“Obviously, we need the community to support what we do because we can’t do it by ourselves,” Brown said. “Frank and his team get together to raise money in a couple hours having fun. “We need all the help we can get with funds and support, and tangible things that we need for our shelters and families.”

Brown said the ALIVE program has “been providing shelter for women and children who flee domestic violence or unsafe, unhealthy relationships and who would otherwise be homeless, because we’re serving a population that is lower income, usually” since 1978. The shelter can house up to 17 women and children at a time, though it averages between 12 and 14.

During that time, ALIVE provides shelter, food, items such as clothing and whatever else they may need to help get them stable. Families can remain in the shelter for up to 90 days.

“In that amount of time, we don’t solve everything that needs to be solved,” Brown said, “but hopefully we’ve helped them start on a path to reach some of those goals to be safe and become self-sufficient.”

The program also has a 24/7 crisis hotline, reachable at 1-800-500-5513.

“It’s so important for us to just partner with others who care about and want to support and help what we do. We can’t do it alone,” Brown said. “There’s never enough funding, there’s never enough housing, there’s never enough anything, but I think if we all do it together, we’ll definitely figure it out and get more resources and maximize what people have to offer.

“Whether it’s someone who can donate diapers and clothes, someone who can donate funds, someone who can volunteer and donate their time, it all matters. It all helps us to reach our goal to end domestic violence.”

Nicole William, who started to help organize the charity event in its second year, said that the ALIVE program “makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”

“It’s no pressure, no questions asked, they don’t force people who aren’t ready,” William said. “It’s kindness and unconditional support when people are ready. They take people who are victims and they turn them into survivors. I’m proud to be able to help them help other people.”

To learn more about YWCA Kitsap County housing programs, including the ALIVE shelter, visit ywcakit sap.org/shelter-housing.