Alas, that special time of year is upon us once again. The time of flame-like Indian Corn and bigger-than-one's-head pumpkins. The time of goose and robin migration, and the time that Mother Nature's little hoarders emerge to collect supplies for the approaching season. The red-eared sliders of Texas have begun to find suitable burying mud for the winter cold, and the bears of New England are nearly finished packing their caves with insulative materials to transform their places of residence into hibernation stations. It is the time of the Harvest. That time of prosperous transition and abundant surprise, when we reap the crops that were sewn over the summer and prepare for the long months ahead. Here in the CVTC office, transition and surprise have been the theme of this season, what with a fresh new bushel of Advocates and staff changes galore. Read on, dear followers, to see all that Newsletter: Harvest Edition, has in store.
Reaping the Hearty Fruits of 40-hour's Labor
Picture it. An auditorium bursting at the seams, packed full of intelligent, eager, excited and nervous members of the community who chose to dedicate two weekends and two nights per month for at least a year (but preferably the rest of their lives) to providing incomparable emotional support to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in the Emergency Departments of St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals. The pair of weekends was a whirlwind of information, emotion and perhaps, for some, enlightenment. From Deputy Unit Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit, Assistant District Attorney
Coleen Balbert's fantastic presentation on prosecution of sexual assault, to CVTC big cat
Louise Kindley's awe-inspiring presentation on treatment and recovery, this year's Training was certainly something to write home about. The moral of the story, though, is that we here at CVTC are nothing less than thrilled to have come out with 50 excellent new Volunteer Rape Crisis and Domestic Violence Advocates. It is truly an impressive and diverse group with a wide range of skills and deep dedication. We sincerely thank each and every one of them and look forward to a fruitful life together.
*Find their names (listed following the order of the Roman Alphabet) and a candid group photograph immediately below.
Mr. Benjamin Amendolara
Ms. Talisa Anderson
Ms. Mariah Balaban
Ms. Rachel Barash
Mr. David Baskin
Mr. Erik Beckwith
Ms. Lillian Berko
Ms. Edie Ben-artzi
Ms. Caroline Bynum
Mr. Nicholas Cimato
Ms. Diane Crothers
Ms. Jennifer Coles
Ms. Madeline Cohen
Ms. Sarah Dreher
Ms. Alana Dreiman
Ms. Sophie Ellman-Golan
Ms. Maral Ersan
Mr. Ryan Eton
Ms. Rochelle Gomez
Ms. Jennifer Hernandez
Ms. Madeleine Hubbell
Ms. Lisa F. Jackson
Ms. Jessica Joseph
Ms. Isabella Joslin
Mr. Saad Kaif
Mr. Farooq Kazi
Ms. Nancy Kearney
Ms. Irma Kingsley
Mr. Jeff Krassner
Ms. Tiffany Latz
Mr. Ian LoPresti
Ms. Farnossh Mahdavi
Mr. Tann MClean
Ms. Elizabeth "Liz" Nellis
Ms. Sandhya Pillalamarri
Ms. Liza Plafsky
Ms. Kelsey Power
Ms. Sunitha Prasannakumar
Mr. Antuan Raimone
Ms. Anastasia Reison
Ms. Natalia Romanyshyn
Ms. Leilani Segura
Mr. Syed Samin Shehab
Ms. Alaina Smith
Ms. Hannah Stravers
Ms. Robin Sokoloff
Ms. Dani Taubman
Ms. Basheeba Tyler
Ms. Regina Valdez
Need Some Spice in Your Life? Join a CVTC Committee!
Though you certainly may not be able to believe it has come around so quickly, it is once again time to construct, mold and create that magically powerful event, CVTC's benefit concert
The Bridge: Where Hope and Respect Come Together. Now, if you attended last year's epic evening event, perhaps you are under the impression that all aspects of the night simply came together serendipitously and that the magic of the evening had not been painstakingly planned for months in advance. Well, you'd be partly correct. The magic certainly came of its own volition; the rest of the evening did not.
We currently have several openings on some of the event's committees, and we're asking YOU to get involved! Below, find a description of each. Read them, mull them over, and then, if it feels right, email Christopher to let him know you're ready to use your well-connectedness to help CVTC. Here we go:
The Silent Auction Committee:
The SAC is perhaps the most flexible of Bridge Committees. Sitting on this one involves securing impressive and exciting items for the event's Silent Auction/Raffle. Know a lot of small business owners? Have lots of high powered friends that like to give things away? Good at getting people to donate huge items? This committee is for you.
Request more information from Christopher by clicking here!
The Invitation Committee:
If you have an impressive address book, in which you've meticulously recorded the names and addresses of all of the wonderful people with whom you've come in contact over the years, this committee is for you! With only two or three meetings, this is perfect for the busy and well-connected individual who doesn't mind openning his or her address book to make sure the right people are invited to the most exciting event of the season.
Click here to request more information from Christopher about the Invitation Committee.
The Talent Committee:
This committee is not for everyone. Do you know a celebrity? Have his or her cell phone number, email address, and/or are on a first name basis? Would you be willing to reach out to that individual and invite him or her to perform on the Bridge stage? Then, you guessed it, this is the committee for you.
You know what to click.
CVTC Has Made it To The 21st Century Internet
Mid 2000 was a big time for CVTC. The office was still recovering fromt the panic caused by the new millennium, a powerful solar flare was causing a geomagnetic storm on our precious planet, and Elian Gonzalez was finally returning home to Cuba with his father. It was also the last time we updated our website, cvtc-slr.org. Well, 11 years later, after a painstaking and arduous process, the new cvtc-slr.org has finally launched! While it is not yet perfect, it is certainly up and running, and a real breath of fresh air in terms of aesthetics. Be among the first to visit the
CVTC Homepage. Play around, make suggestions (by sending an email to
Christopher), explore and enjoy.
The Light That Shone
On a somewhat dreary night this past month, hundreds of Survivors, Advocates, Activists and Laypeople, gathered to light up the path between Roosevelt Hospital and Duffy Square (on the northern tip of Times Square). Those people, carrying purple candles and handmade posters, marched the streets to join hundreds of other people in the heart of Times Square, which was transformed into a purple paradise in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Hillary Nemchick, Chair of the Manhattan Borough President's Office's Domestic Violence Taskforce, along with CVTC's own Lisa Hailesalassie, were two of the masterminds behind this impressive event. A collective noise (which indicated awe) escaped from the crowd that stood on the pavilion at 47th Street and Broadway as the megatrons of Times Square turned a pleasing hue of purple. It was an excellent event to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and we look forward to next year. Kindly find a collection of photographs from the evening below.
Boosting the Proverbial Coin Purse
The lovely Ms.
Jessica Ross of Prokaseur, a legal services firm based in New York and sister of CVTC staff member
Sasha Siegel, surprised CVTC with a substantial donation won by the firm's Wear Jeans on Friday if you Donate $5. A number of weeks back, the $5 donations went to CVTC. We sincerely thank Ms. Ross and the denim-donning associates at Prokaseur.
Screening Alert
This year's Advocate Training produced a truly impressive group of new Volunteers. Among them, as you may have noticed on the list above, is documentary filmmaker
Lisa F. Jackson. Lisa's latest piece, part of HBO's Summer Series,
Sex Crimes Unit will be shown on
Wednesday, November 16th from 6:30 to 8:30pm, directly followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and
Lisa Friel, the former chief of the New York District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Unit. The screening is presented by NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at
20 Cooper Square, 7th Floor Commons. For more information, click on
this link.
These Are the Champions, My Friends
Among the thousands of running bodies this past weekend, moving swiftly through the five boroughs of New York City, ran CVTC staff member
Zoe Landers and CVTC/Connect Legal Advocate
Shae Donato, as part of the 2011 ING New York City Marathon. The two barreled through crowds to finish with times of
3 hours:29 minutes:7 seconds, and
4 hours:26 minutes:9 seconds, respectively. Shae qualified for the Marathon in 2010 and is a member of New York Road Runners, the organization responsible for the event. Zoe ran on behalf of the British charity Campaign for Female Education, an organization that focuses on supporting females through their educations from kindergarten through post-high school business training, the majority of which live in rural Africa. We wholeheartedly congratulate both ladies, who proudly display their medals below. Way to go!
So Long, Old Friend
For the past 13 years,
Ms. Erika Guzman has been the administrative ringleader of the CVTC office. In addition to being the first face people see as they enter the door, Erika has specialized in web design and computer extravagancy, and assisting clients in working to gain reimbursement and compensation from the New York State Office of Victims Services, and has generally allowed the office to flow as smoothly as the Hudson River in the summer time. As they say, all good things must come to an end, and Erika's time at CVTC is no exception to that rule. On November 28th, she will start at the Einstein Hospital's Addiction's Institute, closer to her home in the Bronx. We will certainly miss her dearly and send her off with lots of love and wishes of good luck.
Well, that about does it for now. Newsletter Wishes you a bold and bountiful
Harvest Season! Take very good care.
