Pastor Jim Landelius and his wife Michelle have started taking classes to aid battered and sexually assaulted women in their four county area.  They will be working in the Sallisaw satellite office which also houses the Children's Advocacy Center.  Help-in-Crisis, a Women's Advocacy Center, has a 24-hour toll free hotline that serves women and children who are being abused.  Jim and Michelle have completed training to answer the hotline and are continuing training to assist in other capacities as well.  According to Mary Jo Cole, Director of Help-in-Crisis in Tahlequah, Native American women in the four county area suffer abuse seven times greater than non-Native women.
On average 59 percent of their calls come from women who are Native American.