Male domestic violence victim able to locate shelter — finally

Article here. Excerpt:

'We all should have someone in our corner like Sharain Spears, especially when experiencing the kind of month her cousin Brian Ingram is having.

Ingram was stabbed three times by his girlfriend, Diane M. Romano, on Nov. 4, after an argument at their home on Van Norwick Avenue in Batavia, according to police. Romano, who police say also knifed her 19-year-old son, was charged with three felony counts. Ingram was hospitalized with two punctured lungs.

Romano, 38, bonded out and went home. Ingram, released from Delnor Hospital in Geneva last Wednesday with no place to go, began living in a borrowed truck. Which is not a great place to bunk, especially after his wounds became infected.

That’s when Spears stepped in. Even though she’d not talked to her 34-year-old cousin in over a year because of his “crazy relationship” with Romano, she put all that aside when she heard he was in crisis.
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Elgin’s Community Crisis Center doesn’t take men under any circumstances, said its leader, Gretchen Vapnar. The Aurora and Elgin shelters have, on rare occasion, put up men in motels in emergency situations, as has the DuPage Family Shelter Service. But with state budget cuts, even that well is dry, shelter directors say.
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Clearly frustrated by late Monday evening, Spears finally found her cousin a bed for a night from a Facebook friend by posting this plea: Men who are domestic violence victims need help too. On Tuesday, after receiving proof from Batavia police that Ingram was a Tri-Cities resident, she planned to drive him to Lazarus House, where he hoped to stay at least until he could heal enough to return to his job at Service Pallet in North Aurora.

The whole experience, said Spears, made her more determined than ever to continue her advocacy work. “I know what it’s like to turn your life around,” she said. “Someone was there to help me. I need to do the same for others.”'