LYNN – After they helped her in 1995 to leave the abusive relationship she’d had with a man who shoved her and threatened to kill her, Deborah Fallon decided to thank the Lynn police by donating a computer to the department.That contribution and discussions with one of the officers who helped her, Lt. Christopher Reddy, prompted Fallon to ask what else she could do for fellow abuse victims. She ended up founding Portal to Hope, an organization that received national recognition this month when the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund gave Fallon $5,000 to support Portal.”It was never something I saw myself doing. I didn’t want to run a non-profit organization but a few volunteer hours became 40, 50, 60 hours a week,” she said.Working in Everett, Malden, Medford, Lynn and Revere, Portal annually helps 900 men and women suffering abuse with the help of volunteers and a $104,000 budget.Portal supports the victims of domestic violence as they rebuild their lives, including a special program focused on young women in their teens and early twenties.The organization helps women find shelter, legal aid, job training, youth programs and support to help prevent a return to the violent situation, including weekly support sessions, safety planning, violence prevention training, and independent living skills to enable them to live a life free of abuse.The group works with girls in their late teens and early twenties who flee violent circumstances – most abused by family members or boyfriends – and are too old to enter foster care, yet often are not financially independent, and many become homeless and unable to complete even a high school education.Fallon and Portal created the Erin’s Project youth initiative to provide teenage girls with a place to stay and encourage them to continue their schooling and gain skills to achieve financial and emotional independence.Fallon’s abuser, a Scottish national serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, was convicted and deported. She knows other abuse victims often do not break free of their abusers.”What I’ve seen over the past four years is a reverse not in support but in recognition that domestic violence is the leading form of violence in Lynn and other communities we serve,” she said, adding, “There are still only 35 shelters, some of which only have six beds.”Fallon shelters abuse victims in her own home and Portal has Lynn volunteers who shelter male victims of abusive relationships for up to three days while volunteers help them obtain longer term help.National personal finance expert Suze Orman helped judge Fallon’s application to the Avon Fund.”Deborah is obviously going to change this problem one family at a time, and with small steps great accomplishments are made,” Orman said.Fallon divides her work for Portal between helping run the organization and serving as an advocate for abuse victims and pushing for changes in domestic violence laws.She credits state senators Thomas M. McGee and Richard Tisei for convening a domestic violence roundtable to review anti-abuse laws. She wants the state to form civil review boards to check on court decisions upholding or rejecting victims’ requests for restraining orders.”We’re trying to appeal to the governor to at least launch a pilot program.”Portal has helped several police departments form rapid response teams to ensure officers responding to a domestic violence incident get enough information from abuse victims to refer them to support groups like Portal.Portal also trains teachers to recognize early signs of a child’s exposure to violence at home.”Repeatedly harming someone is a learned behavior from childhood. It’s not caused by stress or alcoholism. It can impact anyone,” Fallon said.