Ending Financial Abuse so that Women and Children of Domestic Abuse can have better lives.
This was the first time Women’s Center & Shelter joined in this friendly fundraising competition and you went above and beyond to support women in your community. Because of your generosity, so many women will now have the help that they thought would never come.
Your efforts did so much more than you could ever imagine, translating into life-saving help for women and children of Domestic Abuse. Without resources like housing, counseling, and legal support, many women are forced to return to their abuser. They just don’t see any other options.
You changed that. Your generous donation made it possible for 388 women to have a fresh start. Women like Lacey will now have not only a place to land safely, free from abuse, violence and never-ending fear, but also a supportive environment to heal.
Lacey remembers what it was like just days before coming to the Shelter. In fact, she can’t not remember, it’s so fresh she still jumps when she hears a loud noise. Something unexpected like the closing of a door behind her takes her back.
She remembers sitting in her manager’s office, her right leg shaking, nervously tucking a lock of hair behind her left ear. She could hear the heels clicking down what seemed like an endless hallway. One bead of sweat that had been pooling at the back of her neck finally broke and trickled down her back. For a moment, she felt a breath of cool air on her flushed face as the door swung open. But then her boss firmly walked in the office and matter-of-factly stated what she already knew. “It should be no surprise, Lacey. I’ve told you several times before—if your husband came here and caused a disturbance one more time, I’d have to let you go. His outbursts are bothering our clients, scaring the staff, and interrupting your work. I’m sorry, but your termination is effective immediately.”
Lacey had been fired. She needed this job. She needed the money—what little portion of her check she was allowed to keep. She was trapped. How would she ever be able to leave her abusive husband now?
Lacey is like so many women who are silently suffering, often their abuse goes unseen. The Laceys of the world are why we first joined the Purple Purse Challenge with Allstate. Because ending Financial Abuse is just that important.
You heard our call for help. Without hesitation, you jumped in and joined the Purple Purse Pittsburgh Challenge to help women flee the silent trap of financial abuse. You put on your capes and swooped in to assist like the heroes you are.
You spread the word everywhere. Whether you mentioned it to a coworker, texted a tennis partner, emailed your Aunt Edna, shared posts on Facebook, held a fun-draiser, or took to the PurplePursePittsburgh.com site with a debit card in hand. You absolutely spread the word EVERYwhere. You were determined to be her hero so she would one day be able to get on her feet and be her own. And for this, we simply cannot thank you enough!
Before the Purple Purse Challenge, you may not have even heard of financial abuse. Unlike its physical counterpart, you couldn’t see it. Even though 99% of the time they come together as a pair, financial abuse was an invisible, secret weapon. No one could see that Lacey’s husband kept most of her paycheck and gave her a small allowance from it. They could only see him showing up at work, and that was only a small part of the abuse he put her through.
Because of what you so selflessly did in generously supporting her, Lacey,
and other Pittsburgh women like her, is finally going to get the help she needs.
Talk about HEROIC! You even formed your own teams to help raise awareness. So that these women would have the best chance of making their escape from the grasps around their financial independence, you took the time to ask those around you to join in the fight.
Thanks to all of your support, 776 women can have one hour of help right over the phone through our 24-Hour Hotline. We can help them even if they can’t get to us. Whether they have questions about putting together a safety plan or they finally found the strength to tell someone for the first time what they’ve been going through, they can now receive help. We will be there, because you were there for them.
You gave the gift of peace. Because of you, after going to bed every night wondering when she will ever feel free, when she will ever be able to breathe and escape the suffocating feeling of control, 388 women will get a peaceful first night of safety here at the Shelter away from their captor.
Imagine how bad it has become in a woman’s life that she has absolutely NO WHERE to go with her children. NO WHERE to feel safe. Scared to death, all options have run out. Your support made it possible for 77 families in dire, immediate situations just like that, to receive Emergency Shelter.
Because you took the time to generously give, the kids won’t be left behind either. The children of 194 mothers can receive five hours of the structured Children’s Program so they can also start on a path of healing, too. Everyone deserves a life free from abuse. And it is just so important for children that have witnessed Domestic Violence to learn that life can be different, and find out how to make those choices now before they start forming their own relationships.
And thanks to you, 760 women can now receive an hour-long call of Economic Empowerment Advocacy and safety planning. Often the first step to a new life, you made that possible. Your willingness to help starts these women on a path of taking back the control of their finances and safety.
And as all the Laceys we can now help, because of your incredible support, move through our programs they will learn about the many forms of abuse and how they can live a life free from fear.
Financial abuse comes in many forms; some you wouldn’t even expect. In fact, many of the women that come to us for help don’t even realize this is what has been happening. Financial abuse, like all forms of abuse, is designed to exert control over the victim. From their abuser, the women you’ve help have faced these types of abuse–he:
• Demands an account of everything she buys
• Doesn’t allow her name to be on accounts so she can build credit
• Prevents her from learning English
• Doesn’t get a job, leaving her trapped, barely able to make ends meet
• Makes fun of her financial contributions/belittling her efforts
• Prevents her from having/keeping a job
• Harasses her at work
• Interferes with her maintaining a job by sabotaging childcare or transportation
• Takes her money
• Makes her ask or beg for money
• Ruins her credit
• Gives her an allowance
Because of what you did for these women, you have started the life-changing process of helping her out of the stifling trap of a life she’d been living. No longer will he tell her what to do with her own money because you just made sure she will have her economic power back in her hands where it belongs.
None of this would have been possible without each and every one of you rounding up your fellow avengers and being willing to go into battle against abuse. Above, beyond, and flying high! Take off those capes and take a bow, heroes. You did it!! Thank you so much, friends! Now, up, up, and away!
