Sioux Empire United Way - Agency Success Stories

Hope for the Future
Agency: Rape and Domestic Abuse Center Program: Victim/Survivor Services Program Service: Free and confidential therapy sessions, crisis response at the emergency room and area agencies, courtroom advocacy, assistance with protection orders, and referrals to other local agencies. Need: 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have reported an attempted or completed rape during their lives, and 1 in 3 women will experience a physical assault by a partner. Last year, over 450 women in the Sioux Empire used the Victim Service Program through RDAC. Impact: The Survivor Service Program gives women a sense of control over their personal space and life, reducing potentially destructive outcomes of the traumatic event as well as facilitates individual growth and healing. The program gives victims the tools to find themselves, heal, and become productive members of society again.	Growing up, many little girls dream of the perfect husband, a beautiful house with a picket fence, and children giggling as they run through the lawn. But sometimes the dream doesn’t turn into the perfect reality. “By looking at us you would never know what was going on. I hid the bruises, even a dislocated shoulder,” said Sandra. “From the outside we were just a normal couple, a normal family.” But Sandra’s life was not what many of us would consider normal. She was being physically abused by her husband. And she wasn’t alone. The leading cause of death among females 14-40 is domestic violence. “One day everything fell apart,” said Sandra. “I cried to a co-worker for two hours, and she was the one who recommended the Rape and Domestic Abuse Center.” The Rape and Domestic Abuse Center gave Sandra a soft place to fall; a place where she wouldn’t be judged, a place where she could find herself. Sandra started going in for weekly counseling sessions. The center gave her the confidence to testify against her ex-husband in court and to start a new life. She has since returned to school and is currently earning a 4.0 GPA while pursing her Bachelor’s Degree in accounting. “My marriage whittled away my self confidence,” Sandra explained. “The people here at the center have given me the opportunity to find who I was supposed to be.” Thanks to funding from Sioux Empire United Way, over 400 victims of rape and domestic violence were provided counseling, personal courtroom advocacy, as well as medical advocacy and assistance in 2007 through Rape and Domestic Abuse Center’s Victim Services Program. Giving victims like Sandra a sense of hope for the future is, “It’s been a long process, but there has been someone beside me the whole way. They gave me the tools to a better life, but I did this for me and for my children.”
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