[April 20, 2017] – When we were first married, we both worked in the restaurant industry. I always had wads of cash in my apron at the end of each shift. He wanted to be helpful, and wanted to be my “personal financial assistant,” so he’d make deposits for me.
[April 6, 2017] – Yesterday, I spoke at the State House as a survivor of domestic violence to support the Protect Rhode Island Families Act. It was an honor, and a daunting task to speak on behalf of the nearly 10,000 Rhode Islanders each year who are victims of domestic violence. I also spoke for the victims who are no longer with us and able to speak for themselves—from 1980 through 2016, 177 Rhode Islanders lost their lives to domestic violence homicide. Seventy-five of these individuals (42%) were killed with firearms.
[February 8, 2017] – This year, one of SOAR’s 2017 legislative priorities is the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act. This act would require Rhode Island employers to provide a minimum of seven paid sick and safe days to all of their employees, including time to address issues related to domestic violence.
[December 30, 2016] – This holiday season, SOAR conducted another successful Helping Hearts program. The goal of Helping Hearts is to give hope to families that have been affected by domestic violence by showing them that they are not alone. The generosity of our donors was overwhelming! Thank you to everyone who gave.
[October 25, 2016] – On October 24, 2016, SOAR presented its final performance of Behind Closed Doors.
Writing and performing in this play was a very personal journey in healing and surviving through art. Writing from personal experience is a hard process. I went through the individual stages of my personal experience, and opening up about myself was definitely not an easy task. It was like reliving certain experiences that I wanted to forget, but the more I shared, the more it poured out.