Gatsby Gala 2022 • Thank You All for A Night to Remember!!
Photos by Chad Lyons
Empowering survivors of sexual crimes to find their voice, advance their healing and educate others.
Education | Prevention | Advocacy | Support
Duty Trumps Doubt™
Changing perspectives through our trauma-informed video and survivor-led presentations specifically designed to help law enforcement, medical personnel, legal professionals and society as a whole, to better understand victims of sexual crimes.
“Everyone was highly impacted by your stories. The team definitely wants to continue our partnership moving forward.”
Survivors Speak®
Empowering survivors to share their stories through specialized professional training in public speaking and team building, allowing them to advance their own healing while helping to educate audiences of all kinds.
“Being part of the Survivors Speak team lets me feel a sense of community. We are connected in so many ways…body, mind and soul. I’ve found people like me. The perpetrator took away my innocence, but he can never take away my spirit.”
Community Outreach and Advocacy
Engaging individuals in the community, in the legislature, at businesses, corporations and organizations to work together to create real and meaningful change.
“We all have a role to play…remember this is personal, there is no such thing as ‘not in my neighborhood.’ Sexual crimes affect us all; our mothers, our fathers, our sisters, our brothers, our friends, our co-workers and our children.”
Safe Student Initiative®
Educating students from middle school to college through age-appropriate, survivor-led interactive programs including safe and unsafe touch, sexual respect, healthy relationships, consent, bystander intervention and rape culture.
“Our students were moved by how brave the speakers were for sharing their personal stories. Hearing from survivors firsthand will have a lasting impact.”
Escape Alive
Survival Skills®
Training women and girls to stay safe physically, emotionally and intellectually through personal prevention strategies, confidence-building skills, awareness tips, and kick, strike and blow techniques.
“I can’t say enough great things about this program. I attended with two friends and our daughters and we couldn’t stop talking about what an amazing experience it was. To say we walked away feeling empowered is an understatement. Thank you for giving us an afternoon we will never forget. ”
Spotlight
Rape as a weapon
Women across Ukraine are grappling with the threat of rape as a weapon of war as growing evidence of sexual violence emerges from areas retaken from retreating Russian forces.
A Ukrainian woman walks past destroyed Russian armour in the city of Bucha. Gang-rapes, assaults at gunpoint, and rapes in front of children are among the grim testimonies collected by investigators.
Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
Article by Bethan McKernan in Lviv for The Guardian, April 4, 2022
The world was horrified on Sunday by a picture taken by the photographer Mikhail Palinchak on a highway 20km outside the capital, Kyiv, in which the bodies of one man and three women were piled under a blanket. The women were naked and their bodies had been partially burned, the photographer said.
#voice2change
During this month of April, let’s spread awareness about the epidemic of sexual crimes so that together we can aid in prevention and create a safer world.
APRIL Calendar of Events
We invite you to join us this month as we remember those past and present whose lives have been affected by sexual crimes. From presentations to fundraisers to candlelight vigils, there are many opportunities to participate.
Here are just a few…
Dart Tournament
April 9 | 6:00pm - 11:00pm
The Blessed Michael McGivney Center
April 12 | 10:00am - 11:00am
Zentangle | The Cottage at Main
April 16 | 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Give Local Greater Waterbury & Litchfield Hills
April 26-27 - 36 hour online campaign
