On Monday, September 21, 2015, AVLF hosted the second installment of AVLF at the Movies and featured the groundbreaking HBO Documentary Film Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert. Over 200 friends of AVLF attended the powerful documentary chronicling the daily struggle of a working mother of three, Katrina Gilbert. 

Directed by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz (Taxicab Confessions, The Defenders) American Winter follows the personal stories of eight families struggling in the wake of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

We are grateful to our July 2017 volunteers.

The statistics surrounding the overlap between housing problems and domestic violence are staggering: 39% of cities in the U.S. cited domestic violence as the primary cause of family homelessness.

Children who accompany their parents to the SFO can entertain themselves with a new kids’ kitchen, which includes kid-sized pots and pans and play food.

This past month AVLF received funding from a number of sources for our Standing With Our Neighbors program and Domestic Violence programs. We are deeply grateful for these organizations’ contributions and appreciate their commitment to AVLF’s mission.  

I add the original victim’s and batterer’s child or children. The batterer literally pounds cruel lessons home. The children learn them young, filing them in the backs of minds, to surface later. An impulse to beat or to let a batterer attack can lie in wait, until a threat, tantrum or argument triggers it.

I have an over-developed sense of justice. Fun fact: a therapist once told me, as I sat with folded arms and stony face, that I am not the sheriff of the world and that I should put my badge down. Whatever, dude. AVLF is my badge.

Ms. O’Brien fled to Georgia to escape her husband, who routinely abused her – at one point he even held a knife to her throat. Not long after she arrived in Atlanta, he followed her here. 

We are grateful to our June 2017 volunteers.

This time of year can be a moment of excitement and trepidation – of opportunity and real challenges. With two young daughters at home, heading into Pre-K and 1st Grade, I understand this dynamic well. It is my role as a father that weighs heavily on my mind as I head to work each day. I am all too aware of the intersection of our housing and work children’s ability to go back to school ready to learn. 

After living in her house for several years, Ms. Arrington discovered both her air conditioner and her kitchen sink were leaking. Even after her attorney’s advocacy forced the landlord to make repairs, he refused to reimburse Ms. Arrington for her water-logged property.