|
In this Issue: 1.
Handbags For Hope Handbags For Hope 2009 Mother's Day Purse Drive Texas Advocacy Project has teamed up with Allstate Insurance agents to make sure this Mother's Day is a happy one with our second annual Handbags For Hope Campaign. Our vision for Handbags For Hope is simple: to get The Project's hotline number safely into the hands of victims, while providing Mother's Day gifts for families spending the holiday in shelters across the state.
The donation drive began with Allstate Agents in five markets helping us collect thousands of bags from their local communities.
Next, volunteers throughout Texas helped fit the purses with a special tag providing the Project's life-saving, toll-free domestic violence hotline number and included our Safety Plan pamphlet, helping victims identify the steps they can take to survive an abusive situation.
Finally, the handbags are distributed to area shelters in time for Mother's Day.
2009 beneficiaries of the program include: Harlingen Family Crisis Center, Brownsville Friendship of Women Shelter, Focusing Families, Hempstead Pineywoods Safehouse and Outreach Services, Jasper Family Services Women and Children's Center, and Hays Caldwell Women's Center. In the end Handbags For Hope provides children with something special for mom on Mother's Day, and mom gets a vital resource should she need it. Mother's Day Gift Card Consider making a gift to Texas Advocacy Project this Mother's Day in honor of a woman who has been a positive role model in your life.
A card will be mailed to the honoree letting her know a donation has been made in her name to our organization.
Any donation amount is welcome.
Cards will be mailed on the same business day as your request.
Contact us at 512-476-5377 to order your donation gift card today.
Emergency Call to Action As of Monday May 4 the Project and our supporters have been asked to participate in an Emergency Call to Action. Funding for legal aid services in Texas, which depends primarily on interest on lawyers' trust accounts (IOLTA), is facing a crisis not seen in the past 20 years. Dramatically reduced interest rates (at an all-time low of zero to .25 percent) are expected to result in severe funding cuts to legal aid programs. Conservative estimates for IOLTA funds in 2009 are less than $1.5 million - down from $20 million in 2008. Without IOLTA funds, core services for free legal advice and representation to low-income Texans are in jeopardy. The Texas Access to Justice Foundation and the 42 nonprofit programs it funds (which includes Texas Advocacy Project) could be forced to drastically cut or eliminate critically needed services. As the economy continues to suffer, the number of persons who need free legal services will only increase - making the preservation of legal aid in Texas more important than ever. Alternate sources of funding must be found immediately to ensure that critically needed legal aid services remain available. Basic civil legal services (BCLS) funds have historically supplemented IOLTA funds, allowing providers of legal aid to offer services to more low-income Texans. Senate Bill 2214 requires that a fee be collected on foreclosure filings to supplement the BCLS fund of the Supreme Court. Texas Access to Justice Foundation is asking that by close of business on Wednesday May 6th, as many people as possible contact their senator and ask him/her to vote for SB 2214. A script has been provided (below) along with a list of Texas senators by district and their contact numbers. Please take a few minutes to call your senator today. Texas Advocacy Project, over 40 other legal aid services programs in Texas, and all the clients we serve depend on this funding. We appreciate your help. Script: "I ask that Senator___________ vote for SB 2214 to provide desperately needed funds for legal aid. This bill is of critical importance to Texas Advocacy Project's ability to serve their clients. I hope that the Project will be able to include Senator___________ on their list of area supporters for basic legal services." Texas State Senators Averitt, Kip - Waco - 463-0122 For More information on SB 2214, go to: |
family violence legal line800-374-hope (Statewide)512-476-5770 (In Austin)family law hotline800-777-fair (Statewide)512-476-1866 (In Austin)sexual assault legal hotline888-296-safe (Statewide)512-225-9290 (In Austin)technical advocacy hotline888-325-safe (Statewide)512-476-5386 (In Austin)
 
|
|
Unsubscribe from our newsletter Visit www.texasadvocacyproject.org |