Steve Grinnewald, of Dowagiac, is the director of public safety for the Dowagiac Police Department. He also volunteers his time as a member of the board of directors for Domestic and Sexual Abuse Services, which provides resources to victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Cass, Van Buren and St. Joseph counties.

How did you become involved with DASAS?

It had to have started in 2015. I knew one of the board members who works for the Michigan Department of Corrections. Through working with her through our jobs, we started talking about the fact that she was on the DASAS board. I was always looking for volunteer opportunities.

I don’t want to volunteer for the sake of volunteering. I want it to be something I can have an impact with and do something good with. I looked it as we work with DASAS on a regular basis through my normal job and think it’s an organization that does a lot of good work and can really make a difference. I figured it was a good fit for me to volunteer for DASAS specifically, so I decided to get involved with it.

What do you as a member of the board of directors?

We kind of run the administrative end of the organization, setting budget policies and things like that. We don’t get involved in personnel issues or those kinds of day to day things. That’s what the executive director is for. We do a lot of planning events, setting budgets and policies and how the organization overall operates.

Why do you think DASAS is a worthy organization for you to volunteer your time to?

For those that are victims of this type of thing and end up becoming survivors, there is not a lot of support for them. It seems like in our society, they are questioned and scrutinized when they were the victims of a crime.

DASAS is that organization that steps up and does that support. There is a huge need for it. They really empower the victims and survivors and show them that they are meaningful and do have meaning. They give [victims] they help they need and help them carry on.

I think [DASAS] is very important to our communities because domestic and sexual violence touches every part of our community and every other community, for that matter.

How would you encourage others to volunteer?

I would find that niche that you are interested and really means something to you personally. That way, you have a tendency to give a little more. Find that one thing, or several things, go after it hard and stay after it.