Sitting at the kitchen table, Jennifer Smith talked Dec. 21 about her plans to make pudding with bananas and vanilla wafers for Christmas dinner — a meal shared among women and children who have become like family.

Smith, 29, is one of 18 women and their children who live together at the Family Crisis Center Inc. of Prince George's County, a safe haven for domestic violence survivors.

For Christmas dinner, each woman made a dish she traditionally makes during the holidays.

"This is a safe haven, a cushion — being here is like finding a new family," Smith said. "Just seeing [the children] safe and happy, fed, healthy — that's what makes me happy."

Smith came to the center, which has a confidential location, from Forestville on Nov. 3 with her two children, ages 7 and 5.

Besides baking cookies and making Christmas dinner together, the women and children are the recipients of generosity from area churches and organizations, which donated food and gifts to make their season a bit brighter, said Erica Swan, the center's residential director.

Swan said area churches and organizations have adopted the families by buying clothes, toys and books for the 24 children who live at the center and their mothers, based on each family's wish list.

"A lot of them just don't have the money to get gifts for their kids or themselves, period," Swan said. "By these organizations adopting each of the families, even though they aren't home and are with other strangers, we are able to bring the Christmas spirit back, even if they aren't necessarily where they want to be."

Swan said the county sheriff's office recently donated 22 food baskets — which included chickens, among other items — and the Washington Redskins football team donated 75 turkeys and 85 grocery bags of perishable and nonperishable items before Thanksgiving.

Demetra Miller, 23, came to the center Oct. 14 from Fort Washington with her three children, ages 4, 3 and 1.

"How we're planning [Christmas] to be, I think it'll come out just right, just right, for us and the babies," Miller said. "This is a new experience for me to be here — I'm usually with my family. But being here, they are my family, too. Last year we didn't really have a Christmas."

The generosity of others has brightened Christmas for the center's women and children, Swan said.

"The holidays can be hard for some people. We're trying to make sure they're as comfortable as they can be," Swan said. "We're all a big family, briefly."

New wing

A new wing at the Family Crisis Center of Prince George's County's new wing opened in August after a near 15-month delay, said Malinda Miles, executive director for the Family Crisis Center.

The wing, which has 10 bedrooms and 34 beds, expanded the center's capacity to a total of 15 bedrooms with 55 beds. Renovations cost nearly $700,000, and were paid for by private donations and four annual radio-thons from 2002 to 2005 held by WHUR-World 96.3 HD2 radio in Washington, D.C.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.