If you follow our social media, you may have noticed that our very own Beth and Kirsti are lost at sea! Through their adventure, they’ve learned all about Safe Passage’s free, life-saving services for domestic and sexual abuse survivors. Of course, to accomplish our mission, we rely on donations from the members of our community. If you’ve been looking for ways to support our mission, look no further than this year’s Give DeKalb County on Thursday, May 1st!
What is Give DeKalb County?
The DeKalb County Nonprofit Partnership launched Give DeKalb County (GDC) in 2014 as a donation drive which benefited various nonprofit organizations across DeKalb County, Illinois. Its beginnings were relatively modest, with just 37 nonprofits and 482 individual donors. Still, the very first drive managed to raise close to $100,000 for a variety of organizations. [1]
GDC would grow steadily over the coming years. However, 2020 would be pivotal for the event. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many organizations to cancel in-person fundraising events, which accounted for a large portion of their funding. In response to these restrictions, GDC extended the giving window for community members who wished to donate, and began accepting mail-in donations. As a result, both the number of donors and the grand total of all donations nearly doubled from the year previous.[1] In total, donors have raised more than $10 million for local nonprofit organizations through GDC, and the number continues to grow each year.
Why give to Safe Passage?
Domestic and sexual violence are pervasive issues in our society. As many as 1 in 3 people will experience domestic or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.[2] This could amount to as many as 33,000 people in our county alone. It is Safe Passage’s mission to assist these survivors through a variety of services, and eventually, to end domestic and sexual violence altogether.
Last year, Safe Passage provided shelter to 191 survivors and responded to more than 6,200 crisis hotline calls 24/7.[3] Beyond our shelter and hotline, our staff, volunteers, and interns have dedicated thousands of hours of their lives to providing counseling, advocacy, prevention and education, and partner abuse intervention services to survivors in need. These services not only save lives, but help survivors to heal and thrive once the abuse has ended.
11% of our budget comes directly from members of our community.[4] If you choose to donate to Safe Passage during this GDC, your donation will go directly toward supporting a survivor in need.
How can I give?
Great question! There are several ways for you to give during Give DeKalb County. You can mail your donation via check (so long as it is postmarked by May 1st), drop-off your donation in-person from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., or donate online from midnight to 11:59 p.m. on 5/1/25. Check out Give DeKalb County’s Website for more information and specific instructions on how to donate. In addition, every donation you make is boosted through GDC’s Prize Pool. The Prize Pool will boost your donation to the organization of your choice, up to 7% of the grand total of donations. Whether you can donate $5, $50, or $500, your donation makes a difference to us and to the DeKalb County community.
To donate to Safe Passage during Give DeKalb County, visit: https://www.givedekalbcounty.org/organizations/safe-passage-dv
Written by: Harvey Green
Footnotes:
[1] https://dcnp.org/training-events-programming/give-dekalb-county/
[2] https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/
