Heather Hofferbert was working to pull herself out of a cycle of addiction and abusive relationships when she moved into a domestic violence shelter in Pearl City run by Women in Need in 2023.
The only shelter on Oʻahu that allowed pets, Hofferbert was ecstatic to reunite with her dog, Trippy, and began to piece her life back together — taking online classes, tending sunflowers in the backyard and welcoming her preteen son for weekend visits.
But the stability she and the four other residents were building for themselves came to an end this summer when the shelter closed due to the loss of a federal grant…