Domestic Violence Awareness Month - 2010

Another October, and another DVAM almost over. This has been an amazing month for Fix the Hurt. We have made some great new friends and met many incredible people. The cast, DJ, Danielle, Jori, Miciah, Kirby and Kate, and I just got back yesterday from Hobbs, NM, by way of Las Vegas and Lubbock (going) and Lubbock, Dallas, El Paso and Phx (return trip). Hobbs is a great little town with a huge heart.
I met Jan Lobeck (Sheri's Memorial Fund) last year at DVTMusical performance in El Paso for the Texas Victims of Crime Conference. She said at the time, "I want to bring DVTM to Hobbs." She meant it and nothing was going to stop her. Jan worked hard to raise the funds necessary, so that Domestic Violence, The Musical? could educate and raise awareness in Hobbs.
Jan's volunteers, Leticia, Gina, Janette, Shannon/Randy, Barb, Becky, Don, Ken and many others were all instrumental in making it possible for us to have a wonderful time. The cast stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast owned by Becky, Gina was our host for a delicious dinner, and Shannon and hubby, Randy and children were our chauffeurs. Janette shared her beautiful home with Jan and I.
From the time we arrived until we left Hobbs, we were treated like royalty. This is truly a great town with a lot of heart and even the Police Chief was on hand to promote DV awareness and it was obvious that domestic abuse is among his top priorities.
Friday night the audience was receptive and engaged as the cast did an outstanding job presenting the play. We were trilled and anxious now to return next year.
Thank you Jan and your Volunteers for making us feel welcome. We hope that next year we can do a NM/West TX tour.

NCADV Conference

Just returned from an exciting week in Anaheim, CA while attending the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Conference at the Hilton Hotel. The staff from NCADV were very helpful and friendly.

My good friend, Jan Lobeck, author of Not In Vain, from Hobbs, NM, shared her Marketplace table with Fix the Hurt. Over 100 people stopped by our table with more than a passing interest and we were able to share our message.

Jan lost her daughter, Sheri, to domestic violence about 4 yrs ago and she and her husband are raising Sheri's son. We will be presenting Domestic Violence, The Musical? to benefit Sheri's Memorial Fund and to raise awareness in Hobbs.

John was able to attend with me and this was great since we were able to present Control.Assault.Delete on Tuesday as an add-on workshop. The response was very positive and we were able to tell this passionate story and reach lives.

I attended some really great workshops and plenaries. One of the best workshops was presented by Ada Alavarez from Washington, DC. Her workshop was on Dating Violence Prevention. One of the examples she gave was the importance of preaching prevention. She asked a really hard question, "If you are on the river bank alone and someone is on the cliff above the river throwing babies into the river, do you try to save the babies or do you go up on the cliff and stop the person committing the atrocities."

Attending this conference was a great opportunity to network, find out about new and innovative programs and see the passion that so many have to end domestic violence.

First Performance of this Season

So many new things are happening for Fix the Hurt, it's difficult to get my arms around all of them.

It was really great to meet the new cast, Danielle, DJ, Nicole, Jori, Miciah, and see the outstanding performance of Domestic Violence, The Musical?, they gave at the TVSA Conference on Sept 16. Between all the "forgotten" things (a lot my fault) it's a wonder that the performance went off as wonderful as it did. The music is so enhanced and sounds fantastic. Thank you, Miciah Dodge. The dancing was innovative and exciting. Thank you Danielle Wetzel. There was an instant, spontaneous standing ovation. The praises were endless for Loren's writing talent. All-in-all, it was terrific

There are so many people in my life helping me that I could not begin to name them all. My youngest daughter, Lindsey, has a birthday next week and she set up a donation request for FTH on FB for her friends to donate in lieu of birthday presents. How sweet is that??

Beverly Brown, my friend and trusted travel agent, at Travel Mania has helped me with travel arrangements to Wichita Falls and Japan. http://travelmaniavacations.com/. Honestly, it's almost easier to get to Japan than Wichita Falls, TX. I'm handling the Southwest Airlines travel arrangements just fine, but glad Beverly is there for the harder stuff.

I have met some amazing people this week. Jan Lobeck, a mother whose daughter was killed by her ex-husband in Kansas, and Sara Jane Drescher, whose daughter, Donnah, was killed by her husband. Jan has written a book, "Not In Vain" and Sara helped start a shelter in Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Women in Distress. These mothers, like me, never wanted to belong to this exclusive club where your heart is breaking and you want to make all the madness stop. We are doing the best we can with what we have and hopefully it will change one or two lives in the process, and those one or two will pass it on.

And then, there is my partner, Vickie Florschuetz, Bravery Project founder, whom I love. We met with Jane Irvine and Dan Levey with the Office of the Attorney General. They were most receptive and gave us about an hour of their time to listen to our frustrations about lack of funding for preventive measures in this fight to reduce domestic violence in Arizona and across our nation. Vickie and I, along with our dedicated committee are working hard to bring underwriters and sponsors out of the woodwork to help us with the cost of presenting - Evening of the Arts at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Mesa. One true lifesaver was John Paterson of International Minute Press in Mesa. Vickie and I met with John about printing the tickets, poster and programs for Evening of the Arts. Well, John is donating all the printing -- something we never dreamed he would do. What a great surprise! What a great person! Thank you John. Our task now is to sell, sell, sell tickets.

Keely Bamberg has been trying to focus my head on a strategic plan for Fix the Hurt. Actually, she is such an amazing person, I have even enjoyed this part of being in the non-profit world of business. She is striving to assist FTH in it's direction, plannning, and achieving of our long-term goals. All I want to do is go out there and use every resource available to me, every venue opened to me, every media opportunity I can find to teach prevention, to educate and to reduce the number of lives that are changed forever at the hands of an abuser. But, we must be organized, professional and funded. That's where Keely is there to guide and direct, so I will try to be a good steward.

John is busy every day, I mean every day, trying to keep our family fed and clothed. He works from about 5 am to 10 pm, six days a week, and sometimes 2 to 3 hours if he receives a service call on Sunday. I love and appreciate his dedication to his family and to the mission of Fix the Hurt.