Mike Wolanin | The Republic Turning Point President Lisa Shafran is The Republic’s Woman of the Year. She is pictured at Turning Point in Columbus, Ind., Friday, June 3, 2022.
A community leader who spent years promoting healthy dating and relationship skills and caring for families embroiled in the tragedy of domestic violence has been named the 2022 Republic Woman of the Year.
Now in her sixth month of retirement, Lisa Shafran recently took a few moments to reflect back on the accomplishments of her life. Shafran, 66, served as president of the local Turning Point Domestic Violence Services for eight years.
“It has been the most rewarding and challenging role of my life,” Shafran said. “I would not have traded it for anything.”
Many community members will gather later this month to celebrate Shafran’s accomplishments when she is honored at the award ceremony June 16 at The Commons.
Shafran said she felt both extremely shocked and very humbled at the honor.
“I find myself in the company of women who have come before me that I hold in the absolute highest regard, ” Shafran said. “There are times when you are honored like this and you ask yourself: ‘Why me? I’m just doing what I love.” But to be recognized while elevating Turning Point at the same time, it’s really meaningful to me.”
When she graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia with degrees in communication and business more than 40 years ago, helping victims of domestic violence was something that had never crossed her mind, she said.
Her first job after college was working in Dallas, Texas for Bloomingdale’s, the national luxury department store chain. Shafran was invited to enter the retailer’s executive training program, which she successfully completed.
Eventually, she moved to another Dallas retailer, Neiman Marcus, where she was hired as human resources manager for the company’s largest store at that time. Her husband, Joe Shafran, was serving as National Sales Manager for J.P. Stevens Bedding Co.
But when Joe Shafran accepted an administrative position in 1995 with the now-defunct Regal Rugs, Inc. in North Vernon, the entire family – including children Jessica and Drew – relocated from Dallas to Bartholomew County.
Upon arriving in south central Indiana, Lisa Shafran became involved in low-key social activities such as gardening, bridge clubs and giving cotillion etiquette classes.
But it wasn’t long before Shafran discovered the Columbus Service League, an organization founded in 1968 that focused on identifying community needs and working on projects to benefit residents.
“It was a great organization doing a lot of wonderful things,” Shafran recalled. “It was also a wonderful opportunity for me to meet new people and established people.”
The service league created one of the largest ‘Reading Is Fundamental’ (RIF) programs in the state, as well as helped establish kidscommons children’s museum, Backpacks for Kids and Youth Leadership Bartholomew County. A hint of things to come emerged when Shafran chipped in to sponsor an annual fundraiser called “A Taste of Chocolate” – exclusively for Turning Point.
Working her way up and spending her final year with the service league as board president, Shafran would eventually take on leadership roles with the United Way of Bartholomew County, the Women’s Professional Development Conference and the Continuous Improvement Council for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
In 2003, Shafran was hired by the Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. She would work there for 10 years, including six years as vice president of development. One of her first responsibilities was to raise $3 million to help finance a new Commons in downtown Columbus, but the “Save The Commons Now” fundraising effort surpassed the goal by raising over $4.2 million.
“It wasn’t a singular effort,” Shafran said. “We had a great team. I would say that (former Heritage Fund Executive Director) Sherry Stark was, hands down, my mentor and a tremendous friend. And I’ve learned everything I need to know about fundraising from (former Cummins Inc. President) Jim Henderson.”
The success of the Commons fundraiser did solidify Shafran’s reputation throughout the community as a capable organizer who obtained results.
She further demonstrated these skills as Shafran helped strengthen the Hawcreek-Flat Rock Area Endowment, established in 2002 to fund programs and projects in northeast Bartholomew County. She was also instrumental in forming the Women’s Giving Circle, which financially supports programs that serve women and children.
A new challenge
In May, 2013, Shafran was chosen from 50 other applicants to succeed Patrick Smith as president of Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, which serves Brown, Jackson, Johnson and Shelby counties, as well as Bartholomew.
“Lisa took over a strong organization and built on the accomplishments of Pat Smith and his team, taking the organization to the next level – and then some,” longtime community volunteer Richard Gold wrote in a nomination statement for the award.
At first, Shafran would tell others in a tongue-in-cheek fashion that all she knew about domestic violence was that it was bad. But it was true she had no personal experience with domestic violence, and – to her knowledge at the time – didn’t know anybody who was a victim, she said.
So she relied on both the Turning Point staff and the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence to educate her on the seriousness of the problem.
“I had no idea going into this … the depth and breadth of the services that are needed by people that find themselves in this situation, ” Shafran said. “But I also didn’t know all of the work done with youth and prevention to educate the community, young people, and – to a certain extent – some survivors of domestic violence.”
In order to develop and improve services, Shafran led the effort to organize new and enjoyable fundraising or educational events including the Newlywed Game, Man on the Roof and Dance Marathon. In addition, she reconfigured and built staff to pursue additional grants.
The result was that Turning Point increased its funding and budget by 75% to almost $3 million, Gold said.
“I’ve always say the most important thing you can do as a nonprofit is to continually demonstrate the needs that you have, the results you are able to provide, and make sure people understand you are a good steward of their contributions,” Shafran said.
A woman with heart
Under Shafran’s watch, Turning Point began to serve a more diversified group that included battered men, the LGBTQ population and certain ethnic groups that had not traditionally sought help for home-based violence.
During the 2017 “Women In Leadership” luncheon, Stark praised Shafran for the great empathy she feels for those who come to her agency – sometimes as a last resort.
“Lisa has been willing to take on the difficult and very sensitive decisions that involve others,” Gold wrote. “She does this with thoughtfulness and sensitivity.”
But it hasn’t been easy. The danger factor and lethality of post-pandemic domestic violence cases has increased, Shafran said. That means organizations such as Turning Point should strive to provide additional services involving mental health, medical assistance, substance abuse, unemployment, child care and housing, Shafran said.
“It’s gotten to be more difficult to provide the depth of service that our clients need,” she said.
While seeing the consequences of domestic violence means Shafran views the world with different eyes, she said she is looking toward the future with optimism. She cited countless letters and emails from former clients who have successfully moved on with their lives over the past several years.
“Collectively, as human beings and communities, we can change this,” Shafran says. “Domestic violence is still an issue, and it is not going to change overnight. But I have great hope that young people today will have a different way of treating each other. Hopefully, they will be able to eradicate it some day.”
