By Natalie Boyd | Assistant Direct Services Coordinator
We have recently completed our first cohort of the year in March and celebrated the members & their accomplishments with a pizza party. We gifted them a comfy sweater and other goodies to further celebrate this milestone. April was all about SAAM, Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The group focused on projects that not only concentrate on the awareness, but also served as a reminder of what they been through and all that they have overcome. We are currently working on our new cohort and look forward to continuing to see the group grow. Within the last few months, we have obtained new members and are extremely excited to see their growth.
One of the major challenges we have faced was a situation we ran into with a local hospital. A survivor finally built up their courage to get a forensic exam and sought our help to get them through the literal hospital door. We parted ways after informing them of all our services and their rights. Fast forward to the last couple of months… The survivor shows up and informs us that they have not only been billed for this exam (which in our state is ILLEGAL), but this bill is now in collections, and they are unable to pay for it. To say we were livid is an understatement and hope you all are also upset. The strength it takes to even go to the hospital is unimaginable, and then to have to deal with this?! It is unacceptable and we owe it to our clients to do better. We put our thinking caps on and offered/agreed to pay for their bill. We know this is just one of many people who have had this happen to them and hope that with continued support and donations we are able to do for them what we did for this survivor.
As our group continues to grow, so does the need for snacks and incentives. We recently purchased new project materials which we were excited to do and would love to add to those supplies. We plan on doing lots of hands-on projects including canvases, paints, sensory objects, etc.
As always, your donations are greatly appreciated and go directly to support this initiative. Thank you for your time and continued support.
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