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January 2023

Sex Trafficking and Domestic Violence Awareness

Strangulation and human trafficking are often not discussed but are some of the most dangerous and deadly forms of domestic violence. During strangulation, death can occur in under 5 minutes, and an estimated 20,000 strangulations a year are reported to women’s charities. With human trafficking, 4,000 fatalities have been recorded annually on migratory routes worldwide.

Join us this January on our social media platforms as we cover this very important topic and bring you insight into how to prevent these forms of domestic violence from happening to you.

National Human Trafficking Hotline

If you or someone you know may be experiencing human trafficking, there is help and there is hope.

Latest Survivor Stories

2023 Retreat

We welcome survivors into a holistic healing journey created by survivors, for survivors.

A peer group approach promotes and supports an environment of true transformation and accountability for growth for each of our attendees.

Pizza Kits

We are at it AGAIN, PIZZA PIZZA!!!!

The Little Caesars fundraiser raised over $600 for BTSADV last May. This January we aim to raise $5000 for BTSADV programs! So stock up for the BIG GAME and order your Little Caesars Pizza Kits.

Presidential volunteer service awards

Our volunteers mean so much to us! The Presidential volunteer awards are one way we can give back to them. These 29 volunteers have put in 10505 hours for our organization and survivors.

That is truly amazing, thank you for all you do!

Tara Woodlee, Megan Lee, Midori Davidson, Audria Tamez Maltsberger, Odalis Robles, Kendall Hoppe, Lauren Hill, Courtney Camp, Amanda Mollica, Gabrielle Turner, Jamie Adlawan, Melissa Brendtro, Eva Bryant, Alyssa Dillinger, Mikayla Dinh, Sophia Doerr, Amanda Gibson, Taylor Gonzales, Cecilia Gonzalez, Heather Gray, Charity Homan, Amanda Johnson, Kimberly Lee, Ashley Paschen, Melissa Valentine, Krista Wells, Melia Winters, Leah Wootton, Tammy Willett

My name is Amanda Johnson. I’m 35 years old and a domestic abuse survivor of 5 years!! I live in a little farm town outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania. I’m a mom of three Layla, 13; Lily, 10; and Landon, 9. I’ve been married to my best friend and one of the best men I have known for over a year. I’m currently staying at home being a Mom and volunteer with Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence with the Legacy families. Helping to raise awareness for victims is a great passion that I’ve looked forward to dedicating more of my life to over time! Spending lots of time with the Holidays of Hope program and assisting with giving love from above to children who lost a parent or whose lives were impacted by domestic violence left me feeling inspired and motivated to make a more significant impact in our world.

Hi My name is Chantel and I’m 33 years old. I am a domestic violence survivor of going on 7 years and counting. I am a mom to four tiny humans and one fur baby.

I want to help encourage others that no matter how hard it gets there’s always a rainbow after the storm , and to let them know they are not alone in this fight. My goal is to help change the world’s view of domestic violence . I started to volunteer here through break the silence because I knew I could make a difference in even just one person’s life. I love what I do and I look forward to continuing on this journey. 

Meet our newest volunteers

Thalia Austin
Thalia Austin

Thalia Austin has over 10 years of volunteer experience with Rape Crisis Centers, Youth Literacy Centers, Refugee Camps, Hospices and several other charities. She has been in the Federal government for 8 years working as a Human Resources Specialist, and her work has allowed her to live in South Korea, Belgium and other wonderful locations. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, and an MBA. She is passionate about volunteering and looks forward to being involved with BTSADV. 

Vanessa Beane is a survivor volunteer from central Massachusetts. Over the last 2 years, she has worked for an international medical device contract manufacturer as their Global Packaging Category Manager. In this role, she has responsibility for developing and implementing a global procurement strategy covering 15 manufacturing sites worldwide and a per annum spend of $25m.

In the past, Vanessa has spear-headed multiple volunteering campaigns, including a food service event at a Boston based homeless shelter and multiple topic specific catered speaking events. Outside of work and volunteering, Vanessa is a mother to a fun-loving 9 year old boy named Ryder and a 2.5 year old Jack Russell Terrier mix named, Jet. She is an avid golfer, and enjoys doing anything that involves the outdoors!

Board Updates

With the new year comes board elections, and there are 2 changes to the board we’d like to share with you. While we didn’t add or subtract anyone from our board, we did have 2 new roles. Tara is now the President/CEO and Midori is now the Board Chairwoman.

Congratulations to Tara and Midori!

Legacy Family Updates

The Legacy Families team kicked off the Holiday Season with energy and excitement. 

The application for our Holidays of Hope program opened on November 1st and closed on November 30th.  And the team took off running with a goal of making every child’s wish come true!!

We would like to thank everyone who donated, sponsored a child as well as those who helped fundraise in their own communities.   

Your love and support helped us make 116 children’s Christmas wishes come true. 

We will close out this year’s Holidays of Hope program and start to plan and set goals for next year.   Please stay tuned because our team has some wonderful ideas.

Our monthly Sip and Chew on December 11th had a beautiful turn out.  The topic we continued to discuss how to navigate the Holidays while grieving for our loved ones.   The suggestions were extremely helpful. 

CALL TO ATTENTION 

If you have joined the Legacy Families Facebook page and have lost a loved one to domestic violence Please reach out to Tammy Willett Legacy Families Director  so that she can help you create a memorial page that is totally FREE!  Yes we said free.  What’s even better is this memorial page will honor your loved one permanently!  Once you have a keeper memorial page it becomes your personal space to tell their story and make their voices be heard.  The Legacy Families team is so excited for the new year and have lots of new things that will be coming up.  So if you haven’t already, please go to our page BTSADV Legacy Families public Facebook page and follow us.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.




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