Reunion Online

Since we’ve relaunched ENDTHEBACKLOG.org, news has been pouring in about the rape kit backlog across the country. Journalists are uncovering backlogs, jurisdictions are implementing reforms to track and test rape kits and citizens are taking action.

As we close out on 2013, I am enormously proud of the organization’s many accomplishments over the past 12 months and I look forward to the next!

As 2013 comes to a close, we are so grateful for all that we have accomplished because of your generosity. And as we look to the new year, we know that we can only make the most of these moments with your support. Thank you for being a part of our joyful community.

This is the moment. The moment to unite and declare NO MORE. NO MORE fear or ignorance of the issues. NO MORE blaming survivors. NO MORE standing by and doing nothing. NO MORE silence. NO MORE violence. NO MORE excuses.

Just a few short weeks ago, Memphis revealed its astounding backlog of 12,000 untested rape kits. And Memphis is just the latest in a long list of cities uncovering rape kit backlogs—first New York and Los Angeles, then Detroit and Houston, now Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Mobile, Phoenix and San Antonio. This is the moment to ENDTHEBACKLOG.

“There is nothing to be scared of because the worst part already happened,” says Miss World 1998, Linor Abargil, in the new documentary Brave Miss World. Abargil is referencing the life-altering event that happened a mere six weeks before she was crowned.

Joyful Heart’s Heal the Healers program was a wake up call for me. The program offered education about vicarious trauma and self-care practices, but most importantly, Heal the Healers gave me the space to realize that our minds and bodies can only take so much. The wake up call has lasted.

Two weeks ago, eight men whose portraits and biographies appear on the Bristlecone website lent their portraits and statements to the gallery of survivors on the web site of the NO MORE campaign. These men, and their brothers at Bristlecone, have chosen to sit in front of a camera and to look directly into the camera’s lens.

With joyful and one-of-a-kind Heartshop products ranging from accessories to gourmet treats, you’re sure to find the perfect gift for anyone on your list—and you can feel great knowing that proceeds support our work.

1,400 views in 3 days. I don’t think that, that number—despite the embarrassing number of times I have refreshed my Vimeo page—has sunk in yet.