Rape Kit Backlog
Big Plans for 2013
Dec 27th
Dear Joyful Heart Community:
2013 is just around the corner and we know now, more than ever, how necessary and important our work is.
Thanks to supporters like you, in 2013 we will continue to heal and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and the professionals who serve them. We will extend and grow our reach and we will respond to new community needs.
We are ready to keep raising the nation’s consciousness around these issues. We are ready to engage policymakers to ensure that our laws and systems provide survivors the justice they deserve, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent future violence. And, we’ll continue to send a clear message to survivors: “We hear you, we believe you, you are not alone and your healing is our priority.”
We know you are ready to help us make all of our 2013 plans a reality. Just click here to donate now,
In 2013, Joyful Heart will be launching a new website, working to replicate our survivor retreat programs across the country and around the world, publishing a groundbreaking rape kit backlog victim notification report, beginning conversations with young men in schools about respect and doing more outreach to supporters like you.
We hope you’ll join us in looking toward a 2013 new year filled with renewed hope, promise and joy. Please support our work today.
With gratitude,
Maile Zambuto
Chief Executive Officer
TAKE ACTION TODAY to Get the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorized
Nov 29th
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is due for reauthorization. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) will introduce a bipartisan bill on tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30th to reauthorize and improve VAWA.
We need your help to make sure VAWA has as much support in Congress as possible when it is introduced to the Senate tomorrow.
Over the past 17 years, VAWA has given survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking unprecedented access to improved services and ultimately, safety. VAWA has saved countless lives, protected families, given a voice to survivors and provided invaluable training to the criminal justice community. VAWA is landmark legislation in the movement to end violence against women and girls, and is both a symbol and actualization of what it means to create healing and justice for survivors and their communities.
The Joyful Heart Foundation is proud to be a member of the coalition of women and victim’s rights groups across the country who worked together with Senator Leahy’s office to draft the VAWA reauthorization bill and gather support. VAWA is so critical to the work we do to prevent and end violence against women and children.
We ask that you take a moment today to contact your Senators and encourage them to support this bill and sign on as an original co-sponsor.
We’ve listed the Senators that the VAWA coalition has identified as particularly important to gain as original co-sponsors below, as well as talking points to share during your phone call with your Senator(s).
Please share this message with your family, friends and colleagues as well and ask them to make a call to their Senator(s) today–we are hoping to get as many co-sponsors as we can before tomorrow. The time is now.
Talking points:
- We know that Senator _________ cares about ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
- The Violence Against Women Act is critical to our ability to address these crimes in our state.
- There is evidence showing that VAWA has saved millions of dollars and countless lives.
- We are asking for you to be an original co-sponsor of the Leahy/Crapo bill that will be introduced on Wednesday.
- Please contact Anya McMurray or Noah Bookbinder at (202) 224-7703 to sign on to the bill.
***********
Alabama
Sessions, Jeff – (202) 224-4124
Shelby, Richard – (202) 224-5744
Arkansas
Boozman, John – (202) 224-4843
Alaska
Murkowski, Lisa – (202) 224-6665
Arizona
McCain, John – (202) 224-2235
Kyl, Jon – (202) 224-4521
California
Boxer, Barbara – (202) 224-3553
Feinstein, Dianne – (202) 224-3841
Florida
Rubio, Marco – (202) 224-3041
Georgia
Chambliss, Saxby – (202) 224-3521
Isakson, Johnny – (202) 224-3643
Hawai‘i
Akaka, Daniel – (202) 224-6361
Inouye, Daniel – (202) 224-3934
Idaho
Crapo, Mike – (202) 224-6142 – (Sen. Mike Crapo is already one of the original co-sponsors. If he is your Senator, be sure to thank him for his commitment to ending violence against women.)
Risch, James – (202) 224-2752
Illinois
Kirk, Mark – (202) 224-2854
Indiana
Lugar, Richard – (202) 224-4814
Coats, Daniel – (202) 224-5623
Iowa
Grassley, Chuck – (202) 224-3744
Louisiana
Vitter, David – (202) 224-4623
Kansas
Moran, Jerry – (202) 224-6521
Roberts, Pat – (202) 224-4774
Kentucky
McConnell, Mitch – (202) 224-2541
Paul, Rand – (202) 224-4343
Maine
Collins, Susan – (202) 224-2523
Snowe, Olympia – (202) 224-5344
Massachusetts
Brown, Scott – (202) 224-4543
Mississippi
Cochran, Thad – (202) 224-5054
Wicker, Roger – (202) 224-6253
Missouri
Blunt, Roy – (202) 224-5721
Nebraska
Johanns, Mike – (202) 224-4224
Nevada
Heller, Dean – (202) 224-6244
New Hampshire
Ayotte, Kelly – (202) 224-3324
North Carolina
Burr, Richard – (202) 224-3154
New York
Gillibrand, Kirsten – (202) 224-4451
Schumer, Charles – (202) 224-6542
North Dakota
Hoeven, John – (202) 224-2551
Ohio
Portman, Rob – (202) 224-3353
Oklahoma
Coburn, Tom – (202) 224-5754
Inhofe, James – (202) 224-4721
Pennsylvania
Toomey, Patrick – (202) 224-4254
South Carolina
DeMint, Jim – (202) 224-6121
Graham, Lindsey – (202) 224-5972
South Dakota
Thune, John – (202) 224-2321
Tennessee
Alexander, Lamar – (202) 224-4944
Corker, Bob – (202) 224-3344
Texas
Cornyn, John – (202) 224-2934
Hutchison, Kay Bailey – (202) 224-5922
Utah
Hatch, Orrin – (202) 224-5251
Lee, Mike – (202) 224-5444
Wisconsin
Johnson, Ron – (202) 224-5323
Wyoming
Enzi, Michael – (202) 224-3424
Barrasso, John – (202) 224-6441
POV Celebrates 40 Years Over Violence
Nov 8th
Last week, our partners at Peace Over Violence (POV) celebrated their many accomplishments and honored those of their community at the 40th Anniversary Humanitarian Awards.
For 40 years, POV has been working to end violence against women, men, youth and children, one on one, one by one. Dedicated to a building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence, they have provided necessary crisis and intervention services to those affected by violence and abuse, as well as prevention, education and advocacy programs in the Los Angeles community to create a community free from violence. Just some recent highlights of this work:
Denim Day promotional material.
Demin Day in the USA
POV was the leading force behind Denim Day in the USA, a movement sparked by the story of a young girl who was raped by her driving instructor in Italy while wearing tight jeans. The Italian Supreme Court reasoned the victim’s tight jeans meant that she must have consented. Denim Day was born under the leadership of POV and became a movement across the country to support survivors, debunk myths and misconceptions surrounding sexual violence and tell the painful truth about the pervasive and insidious nature of sexual violence.
Patti Giggans, Executive Director of Peace Over Violence, speaks at a news conference before the LAUSD. Photography courtesy of POV.
Landmark Legislation to Reduce and Prevent Teen Dating Violence
Just last month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Peace Over Violence stood with advocates and officials to celebrate a landmark resolution by the Los Angeles Board of Education providing for district coordination of teen dating violence intervention and prevention strategies at all Los Angeles Unified School District schools, the training of school staff, faculty and administrators, as well as prevention education for students and parents/caregivers and ongoing monitoring of teen dating violence incident reports and prevention activities. The legislation is the result of a dedicated partnership between the school district and Peace Over Violence, as well as violence prevention organizations, local schoolteachers, counselors, administrators and youth leaders.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck accepts the Public Service Award at POV's 40th Annual Humanitarian Awards.
Advocating to End the Rape Kit Backlog
Since the discovery of over 12,500 untested rape kits in Los Angeles City and County storage facilities, Peace Over Violence has advocated to expedite the testing of the kits and for the rights of survivors to know about the status of their cases and kits. Over the past several years, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has listened to the calls of the community, including those from Joyful Heart, and reduced the historic backlog of untested rape kits in their facilities to zero. At POV’s 40th Anniversary Humanitarian Awards, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who has championed rape kit reform within the LAPD, was honored with the Public Service Award.
We’re proud to stand with Peace Over Violence as they celebrate 40 years and honor those in the Los Angeles community who are working toward a better, safer world. Happy 40th birthday, POV!
Be sure to like POV on Facebook to see even more pictures from the 40th Annual Humanitarian Awards.
Patti Giggans, Executive Director of POV (right) with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck (center) and LA Deputy Mayor Wendy Greuel (left) at POV's 40th Annual Humanitarian Awards. Photography courtesy of POV.
Joyful Heart Chases $1 Million
Sep 29th
Joyful Heart Community,
We just posted about our new Engaging Men initiative and hope that you take a moment to learn more about it here. We also have another, no less exciting initiative that we would like you to be a part of too.
You may remember that back in May and June, Joyful Heart competed in the Chase Community Giving program. Thanks to your support, we received a total of $65,000 to go towards our work to end the backlog of untested rape kits
This time around is even more thrilling for us. We have been selected among 24 other organizations to participate in the American Giving Awards sponsored by Chase. The winner will receive $1 million to fund their Big Idea. $1 million!
Voting goes until October 5 at noon.
Here’s how it works:
The 25 organizations have each been placed in a 5 categories and Joyful Heart is in great company with 4 other organizations in the Champions of Health & Wellness category. The organization with the most votes in their category will move on to Round 2.
If we move on to Round 2, we’ll automatically receive a minimum gift of $125,000. And the prizes just go up from there—the organization that receives the most votes will receive $1 million to fund their Big Idea.
What is our Big Idea, you ask?
We’re committed to making our idea the biggest it can possibly be. We put our heads together to talk about how we can best make a difference with such an extraordinary gift.
Every year, tens of thousands of individuals report a sexual assault to the police. After an assault, survivors undergo a 4-6 hour exam to collect DNA and forensic evidence that goes into what is known as a rape kit. Today, the federal government estimates that over 200,000 untested kits sit in storage facilities across the United States. Each untested rape kit represents lost healing and justice for survivors.
So our Big Idea is to improve the community response to sexual violence and end the rape kit backlog.
We’ll do this in a number of ways:
- By creating replicable victim-centered best practices, which will help foster trusting and open relationships between survivors and responders.
- By totally overhauling endthebacklog.org, the only site dedicated to raising awareness about the rape kit backlog.
- By deepening our partnership with the City of Detroit and other jurisdictions across the country to help end local backlogs.
- And, by using and leveraging these funds to test rape kits.
Your clicks will truly mean something big. To vote now, simply visit Chase Community Giving Facebook site and click the “Like” button. Then browse to http://tinyurl.com/votejhf and cast your vote!
Spread the Word:
Want some great ways to spread the word to your friends and family? You can start by making sure you have “Liked” our page on Facebook and follow @TheJHF on Twitter. We’ll be updating them regularly throughout the competition. Be sure to ask your family and friends to do the same.
Sharing our Facebook posts and retweeting us on Twitter is a great way to let your community know about the competition. Why not start there?
Want some tweets of your own? Try one of these:
- I support @TheJHF in #chasegiving to #endthebacklog of untested rape kits. You can too! Just a couple clicks – http://tinyurl.com/votejhf
- I voted for @TheJHF to bring healing & justice for survivors of sexual violence. Will you vote too? #chasegiving http://tinyurl.com/votejhf
- Will you take a minute to vote for @TheJHF in #chasegiving? They’re up for $1 mill & every vote counts – http://tinyurl.com/votejhf
Some advice as you go to spread the word far and wide: we’ve learned that one-on-one engagement works best when you’re asking your friends and family to vote.
So try tweeting at people or send them a direct message.
Chat with your friends on Facebook–tell them why it’s important to you and give them the easy voting instructions.
Talk to people in person about this initiative. Have a laptop handy and in front of them so that they can vote!
We’ll be updating you regularly throughout voting on ways you can help spread the word. Do you have tips and tricks of your own? Let us and our community know in the comments below.
As always, we are so grateful to have your support. And be sure to catch a replay of last night’s groundbreaking episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC.com.
Create Your Own GlobalGiving Fundraising Page: No Money + A Bit of Time = A BIG Difference to Help End the Backlog
Aug 10th
Hello Joyful Community,
Did you all see the post from the wonderful Joanna Colangelo last week about Joyful Heart’s month-long fundraising challenge with GlobalGiving? We’ve been invited into a GlobalGiving Open Challenge during the month of August to raise $4,000 this month from no fewer than 50 supporters. If we do this, we’ll earn a permanent spot on GlobalGiving, which will allow us to keep fundraising there throughout the year.
Our Open Challenge project for August is to raise funds to use in our effort to end the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States (www.endthebacklog.org). There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits across the country. Each one represents a lost opportunity for healing and justice to a survivor and sends a message to perpetrators that they can get away with their crimes–and that they can continue to rape without penalty or prosecution.
Not only does GlobalGiving provide a great platform for Joyful Heart to raise awareness and funds as an organization, but it also provides really great ways for YOU to raise awareness and funds with us by setting up an account on GlobalGiving and creating your own Fundraising page to generate support and donations for this project.
Getting started is easy and by the time you’re done with these steps–which can be in less than 10 minutes–you’ll end up with your own page that would go a long way to help us complete this challenge. More importantly, it would go a long a way to helping ensure healing and justice for survivors of sexual assault.
Step 1: Create an account with GlobalGiving
Open a new window in your browser. Why? So that you can keep this one open, of course! In the new window, browse to http://www.globalgiving.org. On the top right you’ll a link that says create an account.
Click on it. You’ll arrive at a “create new account” page. Just fill in the requested information and click create account and you’ll be well on your way to fundraising to end the backlog.
Step 2: Create your Fundraiser
To start fundraising immediately for Joyful Heart’s project, you can browse to either one of the tabs on the right side of the screen that say Registries or Fundraisers. If you have a birthday coming up or a special event for which you’d like your family and friends to direct donations to the End the Backlog project, you can set up a Registry instead! Since I was born in January and have no special occasions coming up, I decided to make a Fundraiser. Both options have very similar functions, so if you’d like to make a Registry instead, you can still follow these steps.
After you click on the Fundraisers tab, you’ll arrive at this page:
And yes, next you can click create fundraiser. Pretty intuitive, right?
Step 3: Edit the information for your Fundraiser
You’ll now be asked to give some information about your Fundraiser. This is the information your family and friends will see when they arrive at your Fundraiser page.
- Your Title: I decided to title my effort: “Give to End the Backlog” You could also say something like, “Help me End the Backlog of Untested Rape Kits” or “Give to Support Survivors of Sexual Assault in the U.S.” You can always go back and edit it later.
- Your Fundraising Goal: If you’d like, you can include a fun
draising goal. This is optional. Knowing that it would go a long way to helping Joyful Heart make and distribute a PSA on the rape kit backlog, I set my goal for $500. - Your Photo: You can also add a photo. I chose the ENDTHEBACKLOG.ORG logo as mine. If you’d like to make this your Fundraiser’s photo too, simply right click on the image to the right and click “Save Image As.” Go ahead and save it to your desktop. On your GlobalGiving page, click “Browse” and select this photo from your desktop and hit “Open” or “Upload.”
- Your Description: You’ll want to tell your friends and family a little bit about the Fundraiser and the project. Here is one idea:
During the month of August, a non-profit organization that I support, the Joyful Heart Foundation, is looking to raise $4,000 to fund their efforts to end the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States. Rape kits that contain DNA evidence are collected in the aftermath of a sexual assault to help solve the crime, yet there are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits across the country. Each one represents a lost opportunity for healing and justice to a survivor.
Again this is just an idea. The text I used was very similar, but I personalized mine to include that I also work with Joyful Heart. Of course, any description that explains the project and your goal that you think will grab the attention of your family, friends and coworkers would be just great. Watch out for the character limit!
Once you’ve edited all this information, click the orange button that says continue on the bottom of the screen.
Step 4: Add the “End the Backlog of Untested Rape Kits in the U.S.” Project to your Fundraiser
This step will allow you to actually generate donations to Joyful Heart’s Project through your fundraising page. You’ll go to few different screens in this step, but again, it’s all fairly intuitive.
- First, browse to the right side of the screen and click Add or remove projects.
- On the next screen, click on the small, gray find projects button.
- You’ll be directed to a search bar. Enter “end the backlog” as your search terms.
- Click on Joyful Heart’s project – it should be the first to come up, right? Scroll down a little bit, and on the right side of the screen underneath the second large donate button, you’ll see a small menu. Put your mouse over the green fundraiser section and click on it.
This will add Joyful Heart’s project to your fundraiser. You’ll be brought back to your fundraiser’s page. Check to confirm that your update was successful…
…And now you’re ready to message your friends and family to ask them for support! On the right side, click the Promote Fundraiser by Email link. You’ll be taken to a page where you can personalize a message to send to your friends, family and coworkers (not on office time, of course!) and message as many people as you feel comfortable. While the starter text is great, be sure to let them know that every donation–no matter how big or small–means something to you, to Joyful Heart and the population Joyful Heart serve. Every time somebody makes a donation, you’ll be notified over email.
And that’s it! Be sure to promote your fundraising page on Facebook and Twitter too.
By following these steps, you will have already made a generous donation to Joyful Heart. These actions truly make a huge difference to raise awareness of the rape kit backlog and help in our mission to bring healing and justice survivors.
Let me know how you do with your fundraising in the comments.
With deep gratitude,
Lendon
GlobalGiving: Making a World of Difference
Aug 5th
Hello Joyful Heart Community,
Nice to meet all of you! My name is Joanna Colangelo and I’m the Manager of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Joyful Heart. I spend most of my days here raising money through the support of our generous and brilliantly creative corporate partners and through the dedicated individuals who have a deep understanding of our issues and run private, family and community foundations. I’ll be posting periodic entries on our blog to keep you posted on new corporate products we’re launching (who loves the Me&Ro necklaces and philosophy products?!) and new awareness campaigns that we may be collaborating with companies on (I hope you’ve all watched Telling Amy’s Story from the Verizon Foundation: http://telling.psu.edu).
Today, I’m writing about an exciting new initiative that we’ve embarked on for the month of August. As many of you have probably seen through our Facebook posts, we’ve been accepted into a GlobalGiving Open Challenge from August 2 to August 31. GlobalGiving connects thousands of organizations with individual donors who want to support important causes across the world–many who already know about Joyful Heart–and, thousands of other individuals who are just learning about us for the first time through GlobalGiving.
So, what’s an Open Challenge? Open Challenges give organizations one month to raise $4,000 from at least 50 different donors. If we do this, then we get a permanent spot on GlobalGiving–and we can keep fundraising there throughout the year. Our Open Challenge project for August is to raise funds to help us support our efforts and programs to end the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States (www.endthebacklog.org). There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits across the country. Each one represents a lost opportunity for healing and justice to a survivor and sends a message to perpetrators that they can get away with their crimes–and that they can continue to rape without penalty or prosecution.
When we first learned of the Open Challenge, a team of us got together here and thought about the feasibility of raising $4,000 in one month–it’s a lot of money in a short time. But then we did a little math…
- We have almost 68,000 supporters on Facebook. That means that if every Facebook supporter donated $10, we’d raise $680,000!
- Or, if half of our supporters donated $5, we’d raise almost $340,000.
- Or, if every supporter donated $1, we’d raise close to $68,000.
- Or, if just 200 supporters of our 68,000 gave $20 each, we would meet our goal!
We understand that it isn’t always possible for our Joyful community to support us financially and we would never want anyone to overextend their resources. The good news is that there are still plenty of ways to support this Open Challenge (and our other fundraising efforts) by helping us to spread the word and raise awareness of our cause. In fact, GlobalGiving offers bonus funds for those projects that are the “most shared” on Facebook (meaning, friends are telling friends; people are reposting to their walls and engaging their social networks). Joyful Heart already has 61 shares and the challenge has only just started.
You’ll be hearing more from the JHF team on this effort throughout the month. In the meantime, I hope you’ll join me in supporting our GlobalGiving Open Challenge by either donating at: www.globalgiving.org/projects/end-the-backlog-of-untested-rape-kits-us/ or sharing this message with others and encouraging them to pass it on.
With gratitude,
Joanna
Support All Crimes DNA Bill in New York State
Jun 20th
Last week, Lendon posted about some recent advocacy work JHF was involved with in Albany. We were part of a broad coalition of survivors, advocates and members of the criminal justice community that is encouraging lawmakers to pass a simple All Crimes DNA bill into law for New York State.
Current law only allows for collection of DNA samples from offenders upon conviction of 48% of penal law crimes. We know that violent criminals also comment lesser crimes. When the DNA databank was expanded to include misdemeanors in 2006, 305 sexual assault and 71 homicide crime scene profiles hit to DNA profiles collected from persons convicted of petit larceny and criminal trespass alone. By collecting DNA upon conviction of all crimes, we increase the likelihood that a criminals DNA profile can be matched to crime scene evidence from violent sexual assaults and even murders.
Presently, a simple bill has passed the New York State Senate. A more complex bill has been passed in the Assembly. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo strongly supports the simple Senate bill. We’re calling on the Speaker of Assembly, the Honorable Sheldon Silver, to allow for a simple All Crimes DNA to come to the floor for a vote. We only have a few hours before the legislature adjourns. We don’t want crime victims and survivors to wait another year to get justice. And we don’t want to wait another year to keep violent criminals from harming others.
Will you join our efforts?
Please email Speaker Silver and ask him to allow for a vote on a simple All Crimes DNA Bill. You can find sample text below.
Email to: Speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
BCC: advocate@joyfulheartfoundation.org
Subjects: Crime Victims Need Your Support on All Crimes DNA
Body:
Dear Speaker Silver,
I urgently request your leadership in passing legislation that requires DNA collection from all those convicted of a crime in New York. The expansion of the DNA databank will require samples from those convicted of penal law crimes to be compared against profiles collected from thousands of unsolved crimes in New York State.
Both the Senate and Assembly have passed bills relating to expansion of the DNA databank: the Assembly has passed a bill (A.5886-A) which creates a new state commission for the integrity of the criminal justice system, along with an all crimes DNA expansion. The Senate has passed a bill (S. 5560) which only contains the all crimes DNA expansion. The Governor has called for passage of the Senate bill and I urge you to do the same. We cannot have the legislature adjourn without this critical element to protect victims and survivors, overwhelmingly women and children.
Collecting DNA from offenders holds violent perpetrators accountable, prevents future crimes and provides healing and justice for survivors. DNA exonerates the innocent and has dramatically prevented the incidence of wrongful conviction.
Since establishing New York’s DNA databank in 1996, thousands of crimes—including 3,353 sexual assaults and 800 murders—have been solved, and many, many more prevented. When the DNA databank was expanded to include misdemeanors in 2006, 305 sexual assault and 71 homicide crime scene profiles hit to DNA profiles collected from persons convicted of petit larceny and criminal trespass alone.
The recent arrest of Lerio Guerrero demonstrates the power of DNA in solving crimes, but it also demonstrates how urgent it is that we pass the All Crimes DNA legislation before the end of this session.
In 1998, Guerrero brutally attacked a woman in the Lower East Side. He cycled in and out of the criminal justice system, but never had to submit a DNA sample because his misdemeanors did not require collection. But a DNA sample collected last month matched the rape from 1998. Thirteen years later, the woman who was viciously attacked on Orchard Street may finally receive some peace and justice.
Expanding the State’s DNA databank to cover all remaining penal law convictions will ensure that even more New Yorkers can be protected from the horror and trauma of violence and abuse.
Today, you have the rare opportunity to do something now that we know for certain will solve and prevent crimes, make an immediate difference in the lives of thousands of crime victims and prevent thousands more from ever being crime victims in the first place.
Sincerely,
NAME
ADDRESS
Thank you for standing with us. Please share this link with all of your friends and family.
A Joyful Gala, An Important Cause
May 23rd
On May 17, I had the opportunity to work and attend Joyful Heart’s 4th Annual Gala at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As Joyful Heart’s Advocacy & Communications Associate, I was part of a team that informed attendees of one of Joyful Heart’s biggest advocacy efforts–ending the rape kit backlog–and helped them take action to do so. The night epitomized what’s so incredible about Joyful Heart’s supporters and why this work is so important.
As most events do, ours had a theme, How Will You Join? (The Joyful Revolution). In 2009, at Joyful Heart’s second Gala, the Joyful Revolution was born: a movement of our collective vision for a community that collaboratively ends the cycle of violence and abuse by turning toward the issues of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. At last year’s Gala, the Revolution Continued as we honored the 15th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which changed the way violent crimes against women are prosecuted and prevented.
At this year’s Gala, we asked the question How Will You Join? And it was answered in amazing ways throughout the night.
Letters urging leadership on rape kit reform
We started off with a letter writing campaign to members of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Each letter asked for their leadership to work to end the rape kit backlog. By the end of the evening, over 400 letters were signed—almost one for each guest in attendance. They’ll arrive by mail this week to the offices of Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder, the Chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees—Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Lamar Smith, respectively—and dozens of individual representatives with our message that we support comprehensive, compassionate and victim-centered rape kit reform from the federal government.
By the end of the evening, 409 letters were signed
The literal centerpiece of much of the evening in the area where this letter writing campaign took place was a huge installation—300 rape kits shaped like a heart. It represented the backlog of untested rape kits and our hope and commitment that one day, it won’t be there.
The 9-foot tall heart-shaped structure that was created out of 300 (empty and unused) rape kits
It was quite large, but it was the enormity of its message that was most striking. Seeing 300 kits before them, guests grappled with the enormity of the backlog–experts estimate hundreds of thousands are in police and crime lab storage facilities throughout the country.
As we moved to the next part of the evening, guests were drawn to the stage and dining area by the cacophony of an 8-member drum troop. Each guest had a musical shaker—another way to make noise and join in that night. Eventually we all settled down and news anchor Brian Williams, a devoted friend of Joyful Heart’s founder and president Mariska Hargitay started the evening’s program, a large portion of which was devoted to celebrating the evening’s revolutionary honoree, Dr. Neal Baer.
Dr. Baer is the prolific and visionary executive producer of Law & Order: SVU of 11 years, friend of Mariska for even longer and a founding board member of Joyful Heart. We honored his long career with SVU, his unmatched ability to tell the stories of survivors with compassion and hope and, of course, the result of this work that has shed light into the darkness that surrounds sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. As Mariska noted in her introduction of Dr. Baer:
When SVU started airing, survivors from across the country began writing to me, disclosing their stories of rape, assault, and abuse. In Detective Olivia Benson they heard an advocate—literally a person calling out on their behalf. And yes, Olivia’s heart is mine, but her words were Neal’s. So many survivors’ journeys of healing have their beginning with you sitting at your desk, writing.
Mariska Hargitay and Dr. Neal Baer at the 2011 Gala
At last year’s Gala, Neal listened as a woman named Helena told her story about her rape kit that had been stuck in Los Angeles’s backlog for over a decade. She had lived in fear that her rapist was still on the streets, able to find her using the driver’s license he had taken during her assault. When her kit was eventually tested, the evidence linked to a serial rapist.
As she told her story, Dr. Baer took notes on his dinner napkin. These notes would become the storyline to SVU Season 12, Episode 3, “Behave” based on Helena’s story, which guest starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and aired September 28, 2010 in over 15 million homes, launching a national dialogue on the backlog of untested rape kits.
Though very few of us are TV producers, it was clear that there are countless ways people can–and have–joined the revolution. As part of the program, person after person, 35 in total, got on stage to share the ways they turned toward the issues of violence and abuse, shed light into the darkness surrounding them, survived themselves or helped someone else survive.
“I talked to my sons about respect.”
“I reported my neighbor to the police after hearing him beat his wife and kids.”
“I asked a co-worker if she felt safe in her home. And then I asked her again.”
“I broke the cycle of abuse in my family.”
“I reported my rape.”
“I had the crazy idea to start a foundation.”
Mariska with all those who shared how they joined the revolution
Of course, no post about our How Will You Join? themed gala would be complete without asking you how you have joined. How have you turned toward these issues, made a change in your community, in your home or in your heart?
I know that by reading this, you already have. And maybe you’ve heard about one of the easier ways to join—voting for Joyful Heart in Chase Community Giving. It’s a simple action you can take right from your Facebook page, but one that would help us win thousands of dollars to go toward our efforts to end the rape kit backlog. This opportunity is taking place on the Chase Community Giving application on Facebook allows people to vote for organizations and ideas that make a difference. We made it through the first round of voting and now we’re in it to win $500,000. With this funding, we would:
- Expand endthebacklog.org, the only site dedicated to raising public awareness about this issue;
- Publish the first-ever detailed account of how one city, LA, responded to its backlog;
- Partner with Detroit to help end their backlog of 10,000+ rape kits; and
- Create victim-centered best practices that can be implemented nationwide
But we need your help. 2 steps–less than two minutes—is all it takes to join our Revolution in a big way.
- VISIT www.fb.com/ChaseCommunityGiving and click Like
- BROWSE to www.tinyurl.com/votejoy. VOTE for Joyful Heart by giving access to the Chase Community Giving application and clicking the VOTE NOW button.
We’re so grateful for your support.
