[8:43] Cicero Kit: hello everyone
[8:43] Ricken Flow: vogue
[8:43] Buffy Beale: claps madly for Cicero!
[8:43] Cicero Kit: Since 1984, the Family Center has provided safe shelter, counseling services and legal advocacy to victims of domestic abuse.
[8:44] Cicero Kit: We are located in Wisconsin Rapids, WI and are proud to have served the community for 25 years. When the Center first opened, a lot of people didn’t want to believe that domestic violence was happening here.
[8:44] Muse Carmona: Katherine Mancuso, GimpGirl www.gimpgirl.com @gimpgirl - The Vesuvius Group www.thevesuviusgroup.com @thevesuviusgroup, Atlanta, GA @musingvirtual
[8:44] Cicero Kit: Our first shelter was at a vacated convent on the St. Lawrence parish. Then pastor of St. Lawrence church, Father Joe Bilgrien, had been instrumental in the founding of the organization. He rented the convent to the Center for $1 per year.
[8:44] Muse Carmona applauds cicero and apologizes for being late
[8:44] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone.. sorry for the delay..
[8:44] jacmacaire Humby: Jacques Macaire HUMANBE http://www.humanbe.com Council on Sustainable Development France and International
[8:45] Cicero Kit: The first year of operations, there was one full-time Executive Director, Arline Hillestad, who is still with the organization, and one part-time volunteer coordinator. Volunteers were key to running the shelter, and still are an integral part of maintaining operations today.
[8:45] Cicero Kit: The services provided by the Family Center include 24/7 safe shelter, victim counseling for women, men and children, batterers counseling, Hmong services, transitional services that help people displaced from their homes due to an abuse situation to find housing, jobs or return to school, sexual assault victim services, supervised visitation and exchange, and community education and involvement.
[8:45] Cicero Kit: Our current facility includes offices for a staff of 16 people, a food pantry, donations area (that includes furniture, clothes and household items for people served by the Center), a visitation center that is a model center for the Midwest, a library with resources for those affected by abuse, and the entire upstairs is shelter.
[8:45] Impeccably Peccable: My apologies for being late. Seth Gonzales, Boomer Esiason Foundation, NYC, http://www.esiason.org/, @cysticfibrosis
[8:45] Cicero Kit: The shelter has two living room areas, two kitchens, and six bedroom suites including bathrooms. Each suite has 2-3 beds and can house a family. The building is handicap accessible and includes one suite with fully accessible facilities (specialty shower, etc.) There is a gated parking lot for clients in shelter, and inside the gate, we also have a playground for the children who stay in shelter.
[8:46] Cicero Kit: The Center houses, on average, 70 families per year. In addition, we serve an average of 450 women, 75 men and 200 children outside of shelter each year.
[8:46] Cicero Kit: The Center has built strong ties in the Wisconsin Rapids community, and that includes coordinated response with law enforcement and the hospitals and clinics.
[8:46] Cicero Kit: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I would like to take a moment to talk about ways you can help put an end to domestic violence in your community. One is to become involved with a DV shelter in your area.
[8:46] Cicero Kit: Many shelters need volunteers to answer phones, sort donations, work at fundraising events, and help garner support. No shelter gets established overnight, and if you live in a community where a group is proposing to build a facility such as this, volunteering to circulate petitions can be a tremendous help.
[8:47] Cicero Kit: This October, as part of DV Awareness Month, the Family Center is launching a White Ribbon Campaign as a call to men to work to end violence against women. FBI statistics show that 95% of all victims of domestic violence are women. If this trend continues, one in six women will become a victim of abuse at some point in her life, and one in four, the victim of sexual assault.
[8:47] Cicero Kit: The role of men in ending violence against women goes beyond that of simply not being the abuser.
[8:47] Cicero Kit: Well-meaning men need to step up as role models; speak up when women are objectified, since this creates the kind of environment where violence against women is accepted.
[8:47] Cicero Kit: Please visit http://acalltomen.org/ to find out ways in which you can become an advocate for women, or visit our Web site at http://familyctr.org
[8:48] Cicero Kit: In closing, I would like to thank Tech Soup and the NPC community for embracing our cause and welcoming us to the Non Profit Commons.
[8:48] Ricken Flow claps
[8:48] Cicero Kit: Please visit our office on Plush
[8:48] Ronnie Rhode: That was excellent, Cicero.
[8:48] Cicero Kit: thank you all
[8:48] Coughran Mayo: important work you are doing!
[8:48] MacZ Urbanowicz: woohoo
[8:48] Cicero Kit: thank you