The Joanne Lee Foundation, which uses equine therapy to help victims of incest, has partnered with Skydive4free.com for a mile-high fundraiser. Participants are raising money to support the foundation, and will celebrate their success with a tandem-skydive jump on November 14th. The jump will be at 11:30 from Skydive Elsinore at 20701 Cereal Street Lake Elsinore, CA 92530.
14 volunteers are currently raising money for the cause, and the Joanne Lee Foundation is actively looking for more jumpers, as well as donors. The initial response has been so positive, that a second jump date of February 20th 2010 has been made available for new volunteers wanting to jump to support victims of incest. Research indicates that over 10 million Americans are survivors of incest.
Among the current jumpers is Karen, sister to Joanne (who the foundation was named after). She says, “Truth be told I’ve had a death wish most of my life and losing Joanne exacerbated this. I now have transformed this into a ‘LIFE WISH!’” Jumping out of a “perfectly good airplane” may seem a strange way to celebrate this ‘life wish,’ but not so for Karen. She adds, “I have always had skydiving on my list to do ‘someday.’”
Seeking to empower victims of incest, which has been cited as the most common form of child abuse, the Joanne Lee Foundation was created in honor of Joanne Lee. Joanne died in March of 2006 at the age of 34, after the lingering emotional and psychological effects of incest finally took her life. The Foundation uses equine therapy to help incest victims learn to trust, themselves and others, as they come to terms with their past.
Skydive4free.com helps non-profit organizations raise funds in a very unconventional way – through tandem and team skydiving events. These skydives take place in cities across the United States, and have helped to raise thousands of dollars for deserving charities.
