SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – One in three women is a victim domestic violence in her lifetime. A Sioux Falls organization has been helping women and children for decades and will soon be able to even to better serve the growing community.

On Tuesday Children’s Inn held a groundbreaking for its new facility. The building will add 38 bedrooms and 96 beds, which officials say is needed.

“We know victims of domestic violence and stalking and sexual assault are seeking those services and wanting help, and you have to be there for them when they are ready to reach out and get that help, so we are very blessed that we can expand in order to meet the needs of those families,” operations director with Children’s Inn, Amy Carter said.

The new building will be located at East 8th Street just west of I-229. Construction will begin in July and and should be complete in December of 2022.

For abuse victims, taking the first step to getting help can be difficult. We hear from a woman who knows that first-hand.

Sara Kindvall is a speaker, coach, and survivor.

She says shared her story, during today’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Children’s Inn, to help others know they are not alone.

“In 2016, after I moved out, and yet still agreed to meet with my ex one day, who had been controlling, obsessive, and threatening, he brutally attacked me, to the point of unconsciousness, to where hospitalization and reconstructive surgery were needed. I speak out to instill hope, to inform, to break stigmas,” speaker, coach, and survivor, Sara Kindvall said.

That’s when she turned to the Children’s Inn.

“After I left the hospital, within a few days, I did go meet with Children’s Inn and met with a court advocate, and that was really the start of my journey with them,” Kindvall said. “They connected me with a counselor who I then saw continuously for over the next few years and that is really what has changed my world.”

Taking that step is something Amy Carter, who is the operations director of Children’s Inn, says can be difficult.

“We know that being a victim of abuse is very difficult and we don’t want anyone to feel like there is any shame or judgment involved with that, and Children’s Inn is really committed to being that place that people can reach out to and they will get help no matter what they are experiencing,” Carter said.

In 2018, Kindvall says she started speaking publicly. She wants others to know that help is there.

“It’s really helped my healing, as well as just open a new world for me, and I just want to create that change and let others know that they are not alone, it’s not easy, but there is help, and Children’s Inn was my help,” Kindvall said.

For more information and resources with Children’s Inn, click here.