Organization
& Goal
Raise $290,000 for Be the Match, Rebekah’s Angels, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Tuesday’s Children, among other charities.
About the fundraiser
![](https://strengththroughstrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/liberty.png)
In 1884, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty faced a serious setback. The group had run out of funds for the statue’s pedestal. A general fundraiser, started in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, attracted over 100,000 donors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. Adjusted for inflation, these donors raised several million. This collective action, led by everyday Americans, secured the iconic American landmark’s place in New York Harbor.
Strength by Strides hopes to tap into the same generosity of everyday people, people committed to making a difference and creating something beautiful. Even small donations can go a long way towards producing a meaningful symbol and changing some lives, forever. Just as the statue stands as a symbol of hope and resilience, this fundraiser strives to be a symbol to trauma survivors that they can find the support they need, reclaim their lives and find their own Strength Through Strides.
Inspired by this incredible story, I believe that ordinary individuals can come together to achieve extraordinary things.
Every Donation Counts
We understand that the power of change lies in collective action, regardless of the amount contributed. Whether it’s a modest $2.90, a meaningful $29.00, or a generous $290.00, every donation matters. By combining these seemingly small contributions, we can create a significant impact in the lives of survivors. Together, we can make a difference.
The Trauma Survivors Foundation Mission
The Trauma Survivors Foundation seeks to improve the lives of children and families who have experienced a traumatic event by providing mental health services through a network of trained trauma therapists. We grant scholarships to high school and college seniors who are seeking careers in the mental health field in order to promote further research into trauma psychology. We help firefighters, police and EMS with scholarships to attend approved training classes. We train emergency service personnel to provide crisis intervention when a traumatic event occurs.
How You Can Help?
We need your help to grow and expand our reach to trauma survivors. From a motor vehicle accident or house fire to a line of duty injury or natural disaster, trauma can come in many forms but the pain is always real. By providing crisis intervention and mental health counseling to affected children and families, we give them hope and the ability to move beyond the traumatic event.
We need your help to educate our future trauma therapists and crisis interventionists. By providing scholarships and mentor programs, we want to help students realize their potential as a trauma therapist so they can help traumatized children and families.
We need your help to train emergency services personnel in crisis intervention in order for them to support other emergency services workers during a traumatic incident.
What leading expert Bessel Van Der Kolk (MD), leading trauma phyciatrist and author of New York Times bestseller of “The Body Keeps the Score” has to say:
Q. What do you wish more people understood about trauma?
A. First of all, is important to understand is how ubiquitous trauma is in our society, what devastating effects it has on family life, workplace productivity, the facility to learn and take initiative, the ability to stay calm and focused, and the capacity to be compassionate with one’s fellow man.
As a society we cannot afford to ignore trauma and keep our heads in the sand. There are, in fact, countries where governments have taken the science of trauma (and its prevention and treatment) seriously, with results to prove how well that works. For example, Norway has fifty-one citizens per hundred thousand in jail; the US, 951. Their students also have higher test scores and higher graduation rates from high school and college, and their society has a fraction of our crime rate.
I think that the general public tends to associate trauma with the military and terrorism, but the vast majority of traumas occur within families, schools, and neighborhoods, the very people whom they depend on for safety and security. Most traumatized women and children, for example, are traumatized by their intimates. Another important issue is that trauma has a different impact, depending on the age and relative maturity of the affected individual. The brains of traumatized kids develop in a “use-dependent” manner—they become experts in dealing with threat, and have problems with self-regulation, play, and the sort of imaginative creativity that is necessary to become productive members of society.
Trauma is a deeply communal problem: we are fundamentally social animals, and trauma profoundly affects people’s capacity to get along with others and be a cooperative and enjoyable member of the tribe.