An unfinished story...
We are grateful for this special community in the Lowcountry that supports our work and supports survivors. Today, I’m honored to introduce you to Chantelle, and I hope you’ll consider making a gift to help to help an unfinished story become a success story.
If you ask Chantelle who she trusts, she’ll tell you:
Granddad
The doctor
Her teddy bears
Some family members. Just some.
Her superpower? Not caring about other people’s drama.
Her advice to other teen girls? Don’t be popular. Don’t change for anyone. Be yourself.
She is 13, but she is an old soul. The sexual assault made her grow up too quickly.
Chantelle’s story is unfinished and we need your help to see this young lady through to a place of healing.
“I want therapy so I can get things off my chest and clear my mind,” she says. She explains that if she doesn’t get her emotions out, they’ll build up inside and it will hurt more than ever when they come out. “It could be a never-ending flow of emotions.”
She says this while holding a pink flamingo stuffed animal on her head.
As we talk to her, we KNOW what our therapists will be able to do for her – and for her Granddad. The trauma she experienced is only one chapter of her story. Hopeful Horizons is going to help her write the next chapter – we will walk alongside her on her courageous journey to become whole again. We will help her learn to trust. We will give her the tools to know what triggers her trauma and how to manage anxiety. Tools that will last a lifetime.
But we’ll need your gift to make this happen!
Hopeful Horizons is a children's advocacy, domestic violence and rape crisis center that works to create safer communities by changing the culture of violence and offering a path to healing. We provide safety, hope and healing to survivors through evidence-based practices, outreach, prevention and education. Hopeful Horizons serves Beaufort, Allendale, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties. Last year, we worked with more than 1,200 victims and survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault.
Hopeful Horizons also reached more than 1,100 youth through our prevention and education programs – teaching them about healthy relationships and about how to speak out if they or someone they know is being hurt.
Ask Chantelle about telling someone when something bad is done to you and she’ll tell you this:
“If I say something, then they’ll think I did it, that it’s my fault. But it’s not your fault! You should tell someone soon so it’s not on you.”
The best day she’s ever had? A day she spent with her Granddad (who is now her guardian) at the beach with chocolate chip cookies. She says she was HAPPY that day. In the past, HAPPY meant free. Now, she says happy means getting stress off her mind and just getting through the day.
Hopeful Horizons is going to help Granddad, too. His dreams for his granddaughter: “Be the best person you can be. Be better tomorrow than you are today. I want her to be the best at whatever she decides to be. And it’s my responsibility to give her the means to do that.”
Hopeful Horizons is part of that responsibility. “When you have a broken arm, you go to the doctor. If something else inside is broken and you need fixing, you go to Hopeful Horizons,” he said.
He also says he doesn’t want anyone to look at his granddaughter any differently because of what happened to her, so he keeps her trauma close to his vest.
Granddad says Hopeful Horizons is much needed in the community. “Please continue what you’re doing. We need you.”
And we need YOU. Please give today so that we can help this story become a success story, so that this 13-year-old can go on to do the great things she’s destined for. So that all the other 13-year-olds, the moms, the families – anyone who needs Hopeful Horizons – will be able to access the help they need.
What does Chantelle say about Hopeful Horizons? She uses the words amazing and calming.
We use the same word - AMAZING - for people like YOU. Amazing because your gift means we can continue offering therapy, counseling, forensic interviews, shelter to all of the granddaughters who need us, and to the daughters, sons, wives, husbands and families who need us, too.
Thank you for giving so that, together, we can end abuse and change lives.
With gratitude,
Kristin Dubrowski, MNM
Chief Executive Officer
PS Did you know Hopeful Horizons can accept gifts of stock, QCDs, IRAs, etc.?
PPS Would you consider a extra gift for our endowment? Give this special gift in 2022 or 2023 and 50% of your gift will be matched by the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry!
