Becky's Marathon Blog: Twenty Six . Two

If you've been following our marathon team hashtag #RunForCADVNY on Twitter, you may have seen blog posts from our runner Becky. Becky's blog, "Twenty Six . Two," is her "step by step account of a non-runner's marathon training."

We love reading it and we hope you will too!

You can find Becky's marathon blog HERE.

Tickets Still Available - Join Us!

We still have a few tickets left for our breakfast on October 23rd.

The panel will address domestic violence and how the Center and others utilize the arts to help survivors heal.

Please join us to learn about domestic violence so you can help raise awarness about this critical issue that affects one out of four women.

Click Here to purchase tickets. 

Click Here to learn more about the breakfast.

Click Here to read more about our panelists.

The ticket includes a buffet breakfast and general seating access to the panel discussion. All proceeds from ticket sales support the Center's life saving work. We hope to see you there - get your ticket today!

Challenge Ends Tomorrow - We Need You Now

The Purple Purse Challenge ends before noon on Friday, October 3rd! Please give what you can before the deadline by clicking Here.

We are proud to have been selected by Allstate to participate in this fundraising challenge. All funds raised support our life saving services, including our financial empowerment education. Financial abuse happens in 98% of all cases of domestic violence and is one of the most powerful ways to keep a victim trapped. 

By supporting the Center, you help domestic violence survivors and their children rebuild their lives.

The Allstate Foundation Purple Purse Challenge is a fundraising campaign to end domestic violence. Allstate will donate $500,000 to ignite public awareness and fundraising for charities benefiting domestic violence survivors. The amount of money we raise determines how much we receive from Allstate.

Thank you for your support! Together we can end domestic violence in our communities.

Donate now.

We're Halfway There!

Congratulations to our 2014 TCS NYC Marathon team for collectively raising over 50% of the team fundraising goal! They have 5 weeks left to raise the remaining 50% -- let's get to work!

Remembering Why We Run

On November 2nd, the CADV Marathon team will run a combined 131 miles in the TCS NYC Marathon. For our team, this is more than just a race -- each runner has committed to fundraise $3,000 for the Center's Relationships Are Elementary program.

Learn more about the team and support them here.

We'd like to stop and reflect on why our runners have spent these past months working so hard. While training to complete 26.2 miles next Sunday, our runners simultaneously raised funds to support the Center's Relationships Are Elementary program.

RAE arms third, fourth, and fifth graders with the tools they need to avoid becoming victims or perpetrators of teen relationship abuse and bullying.  The earlier we reach students, from both violent and non-violent homes, the better chance we have for laying the groundwork for healthy relationships.

We run because we believe that youth-based prevention programs are the solution to stop domestic violence in the future. We hope you'll support our marathon runners in solidarity with that belief. 

Last Chance for Early Bird Tickets - October Breakfsat

We have a limited number of Early Bird Tickets available through this Tuesday, September 23rd. 

The ticket includes a buffet breakfast and general seating access to the panel discussion. All proceeds from ticket sales support the Center's life saving work. We hope to see you there - get your ticket today!

Click Here to purchase tickets. 

Click Here to learn more about the breakfast.

Purple Purse Challenge Update

Thank you for your generosity and enthusiasm over these first few weeks of the Purple Purse challenge!

We've already raised a few thousand dollars to support our life saving services. The Center operates three full-service shelters for survivors and their children, provides survivor advocacy and outreach to the greater NYC community, and develops and runs groundbreaking anti-dating violence and anti-bullying education programs for NYC elementary through high school students.

Every donation makes a difference, no matter how small. 

The Allstate Foundation Purple Purse Challenge is a fundraising campaign to end domestic violence. Allstate will donate $500,000 to ignite public awareness and fundraising for charities benefiting domestic violence survivors. The amount of money we raise determines how much we receive from Allstate.

To help now, please Click Here and give whatever you can. 

If you want to go one step further, Go Here and click 'Fundraise for This Campaign.' In seconds, you'll have your own fundraiser that you can share with all of your family and friends so that you can raise money for our cause too. 

Statement from CEO Judy Kahan on the Ray Rice Domestic Violence Situation

It’s been impossible to avoid the Ray Rice domestic violence story.  My deepest sympathy goes out to Janay Rice and all people affected by domestic abuse.

One out of four women will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime, making it an issue we desperately need to talk about and work to end. I am grateful for the awareness such a story brings to the issue of domestic violence.

It is the Center Against Domestic Violence’s mission to end domestic violence in our communities. In the midst  of the spotlight the Ray Rice case shines on domestic violence, I want to highlight and remind you of one of the Center’s core beliefs: abuse is a learned behavior and, with education, all people can lead lives filled with healthy, meaningful relationships. This is why we field so many prevention and education programs.

Our Relationship Abuse Prevention Program (RAPP) reaches 27,000 intermediate and high school students on 15 NYC public school campuses. Through workshops, individual and group counseling, and peer leadership training, RAPP works to stop teen dating violence now and prevent domestic violence in the future. The Center pilots Relationships Are Elementary, a healthy relationship education program for elementary school children. Focusing our efforts on younger children creates a better opportunity to break the cycle of violence. The earlier we reach students, from both violent and non violent homes, the better chance we have for laying the ground work for healthy relationships.

Let us concentrate on what we can do to prevent and stop domestic violence in the future. Everyone deserves a safe, violence-free life.  

We're Out to Get $100,000 to End Domestic Violence

Announcing CADV's Participation in Allstate's Purple Purse Challenge

We're super excited to let you know that we're part of The Allstate Foundation Purple Purse Challenge, a fundraising campaign to end domestic violence. 

Allstate will donate $500,000 to ignite public awareness and fundraising for charities benefiting domestic violence survivors. The charity that raises the most throughout the Challenge will get a $100,000 donation; second place gets $75,000; third $50,000; fourth $25,000; and 5th-10th $10,000 each. We're out to raise as much money as possible for our cause so we can win the $100,000 grand prize donation. 

We definitely need your help. We'll send emails throughout the Challenge, asking for you to give. Every donation makes a difference, no matter how small. 

To help now, please Click Here and give whatever you can. 

If you want to go one step further, Go Here and click 'Fundraise for This Campaign.' In seconds, you'll have your own fundraiser that you can share with all of your family and friends so that you can raise money for our cause too. 

Please email CrowdRise at PurplePurse@CrowdRise.com if you have any questions at all and they'll help solve everything.

Thanks so much for your support.  

Amazon Smile: You Shop, Amazon Gives

We're thrilled to announce the newest way to support CADV: shopping with Amazon Smile!


With Amazon Smile, Amazon donates 0.5% of eligible purchases to CADV. The shopping experience, prices, and products are exactly the same - you just have a new excuse to shop on Amazon :)


To get started, click here and sign into your Amazon account or create an account. Search for "Center Against Domestic Violence" in the box on the right and select us as your charity.


Every time you shop, you are contributing to ending violence.


Please spread the word! Thank you so much for your unwavering support.

From CEO Judy Kahan, on violence against women and the Santa Barbara killings

All our sympathy goes out to the families and loved ones of the victims killed senselessly in Santa Barbara this past weekend.

I have been searching my heart to find words to make sense of these killings. In his own words, Elliott Rogers – the killer - describes how seeing men, minority men especially, with white women made him mad. His hate speech was so frequent and virulent that he was known to groups that track hate speech, like the Southern Poverty Law Center. Rogers’ mother reported him as a risk to himself and society four weeks before the killings. UC Santa Barbara has such a history of crimes against women that young women rarely walk around campus alone.

There are issues of misogyny, mental illness, weapons ownership, a culture of violence, #YesAllWomen, male privilege - all mixed up in one hate filled life – the life of a man who saw the deaths of others as just retribution for being unpopular.

To make this crime an issue of the killer’s mental health does not help unless we are willing to tackle the difficult issue of mental health care in America. To hinge our actions on gun control may feel good, but half of the killer’s victims were killed with a knife, and although more than half our citizens favor stronger gun control, our elected officials don’t enact effective gun control legislation.  Taking on the culture’s views about women and violence? That is a large part of the Center Against Domestic Violence’s charge.

The Center Against Domestic Violence was founded on the principle that a woman – a person – should feel as safe in her home as she felt on the street. Our founders worked for legislation that made domestic violence and marital rape crimes in New York State and New York City. In recent times, we raised our institutional voice to support the Violence Against Women Act’s reinstatement, including its hate crime provisions.  

The Center believes that everyone has the right to a life free of violence; that domestic violence victims can transform their lives and become survivors; that violence is a learned behavior, and with education, all people can lead lives filled with healthy, meaningful relationships; and, finally, that the key to ending violence is to begin prevention programs at a young age. Our programs are based on these key beliefs and work together to accomplish our mission, ending domestic violence in our communities.

These programs, especially the school-based Relationship Abuse Prevention Program and Relationships Are Elementary, teach about healthy relationships by teaching about the worth and complexity of human beings. In an elementary school stopping fourth grade bullying, a high school organizing teens to end teen dating abuse, or a shelter giving a battered woman the tools to head her family, the Center affirms each human’s right to a life free of violence.

-Judith Kahan

CEO, Center Against Domestic Violence

Why We Ride: Relationships Are Elementary

On May 4th, the CADV Bike Tour team will ride a combined 400 miles through all 5 boroughs in the  TD Five Boro Bike Tour. For our team, this is more than just a bike tour -- each biker has committed to fundraise $1,000 for the Center's Relationships Are Elementary program.

Learn More about the team and support our bikers!

The Center believes that youth-based prevention programs are the solution to stop domestic violence in the future. Focusing our efforts on young children creates a better opportunity to break the cycle of violence.

The bike team is specifically fundraising for our Relationships are Elementary  program. RAE arms third, fourth, and fifth graders with the tools they need to avoid becoming victims or perpetrators of teen relationship abuse and bullying.  The earlier we reach students, from both violent and non-violent homes, the better chance we have for laying the groundwork for healthy relationships.




Thank you to our bikers, who each committed 40 miles and $1,000 to support this program!

Support our bikers and our programs here. 

Run the NYC Half Marathon with the CADV Team

Join the Team

Team Members commit to raise $1,500 to support our life saving programs. Team members receive:

• Guaranteed NYC Half entry
• Entry fee paid by CADV
• CADV Team T-Shirt
• Personal online fundraising page
• Fundraising support from CADV staff

How to Apply

Email MSangiolo@CenterAgainstDV.org to request an application.

Why We Run

The 2014 Half Marathon team will fundraise for our survivor advocacy and community based services. We provide 1-on-1 case managing, referrals, and safety planning, run weekly support groups in English and Spanish, and outreach in the community.


As a member of the CADV Half Marathon team, you will raise $1,500 to help NYC families rebuild their lives.


CADV works toward a society free from violence by offering a range of programs for education, prevention, and intervention. Together we can eliminate domestic violence in our communities.

Questions?

Contact Magdalen at MSangiolo@CenterAgainstDV.org or 718-254-9134.


Click here for more information about the NYC Half.

Last Chance to Give in 2013

We at the Center Against Domestic Violence wish you all the best for a safe and violence-free 2014!

We know from your past support that you care about ending domestic violence, teen dating abuse and bullying.  That’s why we're reminding you that your final chance to make a tax deductible donation for 2013 is fast approaching.

Remember, all gifts to the Center Against Domestic Violence are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Thanks to your donations to the Center, a thousand women and children found safety in our shelters this year, and another 30,000 high school and intermediate school students learned how to have healthy relationships and how to end bullying and abuse.  The Center has been working hard to end abuse since 1976, but we need your help to support thousands of women, men, children and teens to live healthy, happy lives unthreatened by violence.

I hope you’ll join us as we prepare for another year of life saving and life changing services.  If you have already made your year end gift, thank you.  If you haven't donated yet, please click here to donate.

Thank you for all you do to end violence in relationships.

 

Happy new year!



Help us ring in 2014 - Give the Gift of Safety to survivors as they rebuild their lives in the new year.

In 2013, With Your Help, We...

• Trained 267 RAPP peer leaders on teen relationship abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and bullying, equipping them with skills and information to become leaders in eliminating abuse at their schools.

• Counseled 1,160 intermediate and high school students experiencing dating violence, bullying, or other issues.

• Taught 30,000 NYC public school students how to have healthy relationships and end bullying and abuse.

• Sheltered over 1,000 domestic violence survivors and their children, providing these families with a safe place to learn to break the cycle of violence and start life anew.

• Hosted over 40 survivors each week at our Spanish speaking and English speaking support groups.

• Provided counseling, advocacy, and referrals to 3,000 domestic violence survivors in the NYC community.

• Provided emergency assistance to over 813 survivors making it on their own in the community.

 

On behalf of the Center's residents, students, staff, and board -- Thank You. We couldn't have done it without you. 

 

 

Support our lifesaving programs - Give the Gift of Safety to thousands more in the upcoming year.

Help Survivors Feel Joy Again

Last Christmas I was delighted to receive this thank you letter.

Our staff strives each and every day to make sure this story is not unique - that it’s the story everyone leaving our shelters can tell. All of our work is made possible by people like you who choose each year support the Center so that domestic violence survivors like this family can feel joy again.  

Here is Ms. M.’s letter –

“I would like to thank all of you.  “Unfortunately my family has been to a lot of domestic violence shelters since 2005.  We honestly were not happy to return this time.  But the day when we walked through these doors, my children and I cried tears of relief and joy.  We actually were in a place that was immaculate.  We couldn’t believe this was a shelter!  And the kids were overjoyed they had TV to watch.  Until today, when we are days away from opening a new door to a place called home, we are thankful for Women’s Second Start.

“I realize - wow, this place is heaven-sent, with real angels!  All of you have opened your hearts and cared unconditionally for each of us.  There has never been a time when anyone has closed a door or refused to help us.  This truly has been a great experience for me and my children.

“I was very worried about Christmas since I had hardly any money and I couldn’t buy my kids gifts.  On Christmas Eve, my son Wilfredo told me, ‘Mommy, this has been the best Christmas ever!’  I almost fell to the floor! Could this be my Mr. Materialistic-Thirteen-Year-Old - the boy with so much anger from witnessing too much?  Thank you all so very much for putting joy back in our lives!”  From Ms. M. for Tiffany, David and Wilfredo

The shelter Ms. M., Tiffany, David and Wilfredo walked into, Women’s Second Start, is located in Northern Manhattan.  Every year, the individualized services provided by Women’s Second Start give more than a hundred women and three hundred children the tools they need to break the pattern of domestic violence and start life anew – with joy. 

As the year draws to a close, we're asking you to support the Center Against Domestic Violence fulfill it's mission - ending violence in our communities.  We know you want to live in the same world as us, where children grow up in positive environments and gender-based violence is non-existant.  Your support of the Center brings us closer to that shared vision; please consider making a donation today.

Thank you and Happy Holidays,

Judith Kahan,

Chief Executive Officer

Support our shelters - Give the Gift of Safety to families fleeing domestic violence.