95: Speak Your Silence Helps Speak Their Silence

Today I bring you one of my very favorite nonprofits: Speak Your Silence and their campaign, The Stitch.  Matt Pipkin, the Founder, was sexually abused as a child and, not atypically,  waited many years to share his story with his family and seek counseling. Matt's counselor helped him so much, he founded Speak Your Silence to raise funds to "make in-person, one-on-one counseling accessible for those personally affected by child sexual abuse anywhere in the US, regardless of financial means. To date, approximately 125 individuals in over thirty states have received counseling through our program." (https://speakyoursilence.org)
The Stitch is one way Speak Your Silence funds counseling. "We are partnered with BPA Health to offer a world-class counseling program comprised of a nationwide network of highly credentialed and qualified professional counselors. This partnership makes it possible for anyone directly affected by child sexual abuse to access in-person, one-on-one counseling anywhere in the US." (https://speakyoursilence.org) 

In the Speak Your Silence Shop, you can show support and buy The Stitch Kit, or you can buy awesome products that have already been stitched. The kit is matchbox-sized and contains a needle and the special orange thread, so you can stitch your symbolic voice frequency onto  shirts, shoes, scarves, ties, and pretty much anything. How many times you can use one kit depends on how you sew and and how you want your "voice" to appear. I know I sewed at least four things from one kit and had some left. The kit also contains a cling sticker for you to place somewhere and information cards, in case you need reminding we should hashtag #TheStitch and make The Stitch as famous as possible (my column, my opinion, but you know I'm right). Thanks to Matt's support with a discount, I was able to give The Stitch to people attending the annual Caring Points Picnic (benefiting abused children through the CARE Center at Akron Children's Hospital) last year. 

In the pictures I attached today, you can see I used it on my medal for the picnic last year, and I put it on Nessie's collar so people would ask me about it - plus, she supports and participates in so much of my philanthropic efforts. I love when I wear something with The Stitch and can tell people about it's symbolic elegance and how much it helps make a difference. My zigzag looks a little off, but since my initials are MMM, I decided to really make it my voice by making my initials the stitch. 
I love how Speak Your Silence created this beautiful, symbolic action where we can all speak the silence of abused children, whether we were one, know one, or want to help one. I really appreciate that The Stitch Kit is affordable, but if you can do more, there are more ways to support the efforts of providing counseling to children in need, https://speakyoursilence.org/#section-donate. 
If you want to speak a silence and need someone to mention when you wear The Stitch, you can speak mine. 

You can find the Donations by the Dozen posts here on google,

on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/graceinitiative/,

on twitter https://twitter.com/MarciGoLightly,

or on the Grace Initiative Foundation Tree, LLC's website http://www.graceinit.org/donations-by-the-dozen.html where you can enter your email to subscribe for an email daily dose of Donations by the Dozen.

Our email is DonationsByTheDozen@gmail.com.

Thanks and cheers to charity