By Melissa G. Rodriguez

A community organization started by a group of women back in 1978 was looking for ways to connect during a different timultuous time – and that group took on the name of the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center (HCWC).

It wasn’t too long after the first meeting that the phone started ringing with women asking for help to flee abusive homes. Soon, the Hays County Women’s Center, as it was named, received funding to create one of the first six shelters in the...