Refuse To Abuse 5k®

The past four years have been a monumentally transformative experience for Maggie and her children.  Four years ago they were in a situation in which no person – male or female, adult or child – should have to endure.  It was both the easiest and the most difficult decision of her life when she decided to put an end to the life they were living.  It was a decision filled with risk, with apprehension about the future – where they would end up, how they were to go about rebuilding their lives, with difficult questions being asked and finding the answers equally difficult.

Her journey – her family’s journey – has a happy ending, an ending wherein they have found what life is like without the specter of domestic violence.  Her family now enjoys a life in which they are eager to seize, a life lived fully, every single day.  We live a life that every person, every family should partake in, that every man, woman and child should have without having to endure the dread of wondering if a member of the family is in a good mood, or if they are in a bad mood – and whether or not they will have to suffer at their hands when they get home.

This event is a fundraiser to help educate, to help prevent, and to help provide assistance to those who seek to begin a new life free from domestic violence.  This event, this organization empowers people to change their lives, and to change the lives of those they love and care about.  Your presence on this team is more valued than can possibly be expressed.  The measure of the work performed by WSCADV is largely unseen, yet for those of us who have survived, or that are still in relationships steeped in domestic violence, organizations like the WSCADV, and the people that support them, are the firmest bastions of hope to be found.

It is one of the most profound and awe-inspiring experiences to be a part of Maggie’s life and family – and it is a humbling thing to see where she and her family have been, how far they have come, and where they are now, and what lays before them, let alone to be a part of the life they now live.  It is with absolute certainty that I can say that Maggie and her family are far more than survivors of domestic violence – they are heroes, and it is a great privilege to know her and be a part of her family.  Thank you for joining us in this event, and we look forward to seeing you all in Seattle.

~ Tom Thompson