Each year, thousands of children — almost as many as diagnosed with leukemia — are orphaned by the murder of one parent by the other. Deaths from domestic violence have increased in some areas across the country, which include a rise in deaths from shaken baby syndrome and murder-suicides wiping out entire families. Calls to domestic-violence hotlines have risen too, and more than half the callers said their families' financial situation has changed recently. Across the country, these and other signs point to another damaging effect of the recession: The American home is becoming more violent, and the ailing economy is a trigger causing the increase in domestic abuse.
In an effort to support education and awareness in communities from coast to coast, benefit children who have recently lost a parent to domestic homicide, and empower the most silent victims of domestic abuse, the Purple Ribbon Council in partnership with salons, spas, beauty schools, and safe-houses across the country will present a Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse™ fundraiser on Thursday, May 7, 2009.
Event attendees will be treated to manicures, massages, hairstyles and mini-makeovers, as well as appetizer, dessert and coffee sampling, silent auctions and door prizes. The simultaneous Girls Night Out events are more than a night of fun, fundraising, and beauty. They are part of a strength in numbers campaign to raise public consciousness on how to recognize and respond to the danger signs of domestic abuse, how to safely refer a victim for help, and are a celebration of survivors and the collective power of communities to band together to Break the Silence, Break the Silence, Break the Cycle and Save Lives.
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit local non-profit domestic abuse response organizations, as well as the prevention and mass awareness education programs of the Purple Ribbon Council and the Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund. A portion of dollars raised from each Girls Night Out fundraiser will help to establish a Purple Ribbon Fund for Children, the first initiative of it’s kind to provide post traumatic stress alleviating therapies and resources to children who have lost a parent to domestic homicide. http://www.GNOusa.org
Founded in August 2006, the Purple Ribbon Council’s Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse™ event emerged from a domestic abuse survivor’s moment of obligation that she needed to break her own silence. The result is now a national campaign led in local communities by survivors and salon & spa owners to dispel societal stigmas, mobilize survivors and the next generation of advocates, while supporting, benefiting and empowering victims, families and children touched by domestic abuse and domestic homicide.
WHAT: Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse™ (AZ, MI, PA, OH, NV, GA, NY)
WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2009
WHERE: http://www.GNOusa.org
