Help Rescue 500 Battered Women And Their Children

With your valuable help in 2008 we received 1182 crisis calls & emails from 363 families (with 239 children) in 56 different countries. These crisis contacts came from:

45% from Europe 18% from the Middle East 9% Asia 26% Americas 2% Africa

In addition, we provided danger to safety relocation back to the USA to 7 families, provided legal representation to 6 families and provided housing to 4 families.

The donations that come in though Global Giving are at the heart of our mission and we would not be able to do the work we do without you. Thank you so much.

We are gearing up this month for our Minutes for Moms Campaign. Every phone call we receive on the international toll free hotline costs the organization between $1.00 to $4.00 per minute just in toll charges. Donations to our Minutes for Moms Campaign will go directly to pay these crisis line bills which are so critical to a vitims welfare.

We received calls from Guyana and Romania in the month of September which reflects that our outreach efforts are working. A big thank you to all of you who donate to us and recognize the value of our work!

With the addition of crisis calls received from battered American women in Iceland and Bosnia in July, we have now received calls from victims in 77 countries around the world. We have come a long way, but have so far to go. Thank you for your continued support in helping us expand and reach those in need in places as far away as Iceland and Bosnia.

It is my pleasure to update you on our ½ year progress in serving abused American women & children overseas. From January through June 2008, our advocates received 643 crisis calls & emails from 193 different families (123 of these families had 229 children) in 40 countries. We helped relocate 3 families back to the USA, paid 2 legal retainers to enable battered mothers to file for custody of their children, provided 2 free legal consultations with international custody attorneys, provided free counseling sessions with pro-bono professional counselors to 4 survivors and provided 3 families with housing and basic needs. Of the 193 different families, 53 involved Hague issues.

We truly appreciate the support of our growing Global Giving donors and want to thank you for believing in our mission.

We just completed our 30 hour international crisis line advocate training. After completion of the training, advocates commit to a minimum of 1 year, six hours per week on the crisis line, or 312 hours. Most of our crisis line volunteers provide over 500 hours per year. Without their support, we would not be able to do the work that we do. We are grateful for the financial support we receive through Global Giving to enable us to conduct these trainings twice per year.