February 13, 2009
Dear Friends of FAITH,
The year 2008 turned out to be a very challenging year for us at FAITH. In my nearly nine years here, I have never seen the demand for our services so great. Despite the growing numbers of victims we served, 2008 has also been a huge blessing for us and I wanted to share some of those with you.
We continue to work diligently on our 1 million dollar capital campaign “A Place to Heal.” We most recently received a $20,000 grant from the Georgia Power Foundation. With all of your help and other grants, we have raised over $660,000 to date. With the economy in the shape it is we know the giving will slow down; however, we still have high expectations to complete the campaign within the next year. Our new shelter has brought a sense of peace and serenity to our residents as well as to our staff. Our residents are incredibly thankful and seem to take great pride in the place. We have been full for months and are expecting to remain full for months to come.
Our Power House for Kids Child Advocacy Center has also had a larger demand for services. In a typical month, the CAC averages 15 new alleged sexual abuse cases; however, in December alone, 34 new cases were brought to the Center. After months of only having two available staff persons at the center to handle new and older cases, we were awarded a grant for an additional part-time advocate beginning this month. This is a huge blessing for us!
We are thrilled to announce that our Power House was selected to begin a telemedicine program collaborating with the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta group. This exciting new program will allow Children’s Healthcare physicians to provide real-time consultations during the sexual abuse exam, video-conferencing for case management and training sessions for medical and community professionals. The District Attorney, Brian Rickman, believes this will greatly enhance his ability to prosecute the perpetrators! We are looking forward to beginning that program this year.
Our Violence Prevention Program continues to educate young people in the schools as well as adult organizations in the tri-county area about resources available for victims of abuse and strategies to avoid getting involved in an abusive relationship. We are seeing more dating violence and date rape amongst our teenagers so we are heavily focused on assisting our young people with life skills to “read the signs” before it is too late. By the end of the school year, over 2,000 young people of all ages will have heard our message!
I hope you are as excited as I am about the work FAITH continues to do in our community. It is because of people, like you, that we are able to assist so many each year. Your support, encouragement and prayers are very much needed and appreciated.
Sincerely,
Caroline K. White
