During these 12 months, with your help, REACH provided more than 5,600 nights of safety and days of healing in our shelter. With your help, more than 300 survivors worked with community advocates at our office. Our wonderful office space also enabled us to offer new support groups for children – more than 30 kids participated. And our prevention team engaged more than 5,000 adults and kids in lots of different settings.
During those same 12 months, more than 900 people gave their time, talent and treasure to help REACH do all that we do every day. And we cannot say thank you enough.
So we decided to send a thank you note – just like my mother taught me to do – to everyone. There was nothing asked – just an expression of gratitude with a powerful image created by Mary, a member of the Survivor Speakers’ Bureau.
“Thank you for the gift of listening to me.”
The core of our work at REACH is listening. Everything you do helps ensure that there is someone here to listen. And to believe.
We are all in this together – and we share gratitude for the work of each of us: colleagues, board members, volunteers, donors, community members. So we decided to do the thanking together too. We invited everyone to say thank you to someone else and sign a card or few.
- Staff signed cards during our staff meeting.
- Board members signed cards at our July board meeting.
- Volunteers signed cards between answering the phone and door.
It was fun to see who signed your card when it arrived in the mail – for the people signing were also many of the people receiving the card. “Who signed your card?” was a frequent question around the office.
If you didn’t get a card this year – and want to get one next year – join us!
- We are looking for volunteers to help in lots of way and we have a training coming up in September.
- If you prefer a party, the Reach for the Stars gala is on October 26 at the Park Plaza – get your tickets or become a sponsor!
- October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and there will be activities happening all month – host something at your home, school or business.
- Engage your faith community to learn, share or mobilize on these issues.
You can be part of this work. We believe change is possible. Thank you for believing with us.
Together we will reach beyond domestic violence.
