Change A Life

Over the last 45 years, WRAP has helped thousands change their lives and realize their hopes for a violence-free future. One of the most recent of these is a young woman who, with WRAP's help, has completely turned her life around. This young woman grew up in poverty in an area regarded by most as highly dangerous. She was raped and abused as a child and again as an adolescent. Pregnant as a result of the second rape, she had decided to keep her baby, but she was suffering from the trauma of all of the abuse she had experienced. One of our incredible partners, a patrol officer, advised her to come to WRAP. She did, and that one simple act has made all the difference in her life and in the life of her baby.

As the result of WRAP's support of her healing process and advocacy on her behalf, she has been able to get a job, get enrolled in college, get quality childcare for her baby, get transportation, and move herself and her baby into safe, affordable housing. With plans to study nursing, she wants to give back to the community that has now given so much to her. In sharing her story with others, she expressed her gratitude for WRAP, saying: "I was so surprised to find out that EVEN PEOPLE LIKE ME can get help." Think about those words. With her whole life ahead of her and the shaping of the life of her child in her hands, this beautiful young mother believed that--because of where she had lived, because of what had happened to her, because of who she was--she was "less than" the rest of us. Because of the abuse inflicted on her, this young woman believed that she wasn't worthy of help.

How many more people in our community believe that they are "less than" because of the domestic abuse or sexual assault they have suffered? That they are undeserving of even the basic caring and compassion that most of us are born into and grow up in? Even one more is one too many. Please...as we approach the season of thanks and of giving, remember the work that WRAP does in our community to end violence, change lives, and give hope and give as much as you can to help us change the lives of more survivors and their children.