LIZ WHIPPLE | June 25, 2015 Working at AVLF is, at its heart, about making friends. The incredible people at the Fulton County Courthouse who have taken me in, thank you. […]

Esteemed board member Avi Stadler always says “AVLF saves lives.” Sometimes we really do. Other times, we aren’t enough. With the Domestic Violence Project and the GAL program, however, we – volunteers, staff, donors – have the distinct privilege of playing a pivotal role at turning point in the life of the vulnerable. As I look back over 2014, I would like to acknowledge the loss of a client to the violence we battle daily. I also look back and see hundreds of lives that are now safer and more secure because they knew us. I look forward to 2015 and envision a sea of women, men and children whose stories, still to be written, will be richer for having us as minor characters.

In the four years I’ve worked at the Safe Families Office, I have seen and heard some terrible things. I speak often about worst-case scenarios, be it in trainings or presentations, but there is a distance in the recounting. Last week, however, there was no distance when a voice on the other end of the phone said “Liz, there’s been a shooting.” It was the police calling, a call the likes of which I’d never before received and I hope I never do again. The fact that it was happening at all, though, meant a client of ours was involved.