Kellibrew Addresses Mississippi Teens

Domestic violence survivors to address rural Mississippi teens

October 26, 2009 Lexington, Mississippi
Posted by:HelpMeetLLC1

CNN producer note
iReport —

ARISE, take charge and prevent domestic violence!

LEXINGTON, Miss. -- According to a Bureau of Justice Special Report: “Intimate Partner Violence,” 40 percent of teenage girls ages 14 to 17 say they know someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.

The ARISE (Assistance for Rural, Intervention, Strategies and Empowerment) Project is working hard to prevent such occurrences. In observance of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, ARISE will present a Domestic Violence/Abuse Prevention Forum, Tonight, Oct. 26, at 6 p.m., in the Community Students Learning Center building, 333 Yazoo Street, Lexington, Miss.

The program will feature William C. Kellibrew IV of the William Kellibrew Foundation, Washington, D.C., and Mississippi Author and Evangelist Voncele Savage of Canton, Miss. Although from different areas of the nation, both Kellibrew and Savage share a common bond: they survived the horrors of being victims of domestic violence and abuse!

Featured on national television, Kellibrew shared the horrific experience of seeing his mother fatally shot in the face and his 12-year-old brother shot in the head by his mother's ex-boyfriend. He was only 10 at the time, living in a poor, crime-ridden area near Washington, D.C.

A survivor of domestic violence, he uses his experiences to talk to teens and others throughout the country about domestic violence and to advocate for the protection of women and children. He is currently a political science student at Howard University, who plans to expand his outreach foundation. See his blog at http://www.kellibrew.blogspot.com/

A St. Louis, Mo. native, Savage is a retired educator who has a deep passion for speaking out against domestic abuse and violence. She suffered 40 plus years of domestic abuse from a husband in the ministry. Through her personal campaign, she now testifies how God has broken her free from such bondage. She uses God’s word and her deliverance -- via writing and speaking -- to let others know that there is a way out. Her latest publication, “Looking thru the Fence: Diamonds in the Rough,” (ISBN: 978-0-9795628-1-5) is a spiritual guide, with highlights of the abuse she and her children suffered. Her other book is “A Letter to My Sisters: The way Out,” (ISBN: 978-0-9795628-0-8). Both will be available at the forum, or one may log on to http://www.savagehouse.net/

“We could not have asked for two better presenters to come and talk with our ARISE participants,” said ARISE Prevention Coordinator Lula Friar. “When we asked Mr. Kellibrew, he did not hesitate to fit us into is schedule. Evangelist Savage came highly recommended.

ARISE is all about prevention. We don’t want our young people to get tangled in a web of domestic violence and abuse.”A program of the Community Students Learning Center (CSLC), a 501 (c) 3 organization, ARISE implements middle school and high school violence prevention programs that - explore relationships, gender roles, coercion and control – help young men and women to have more responsible, healthy relationships in middle school, high school, college and into adulthood. This project is supported under 42 U.S.C. 13971 (OVW- Rural) Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women.

CSLC Executive Director Beulah Greer said she hopes this forum opens the eyes of not only the youth but also adults as well, about how destructive domestic violence and abuse can become. “We want to increase awareness and seriously raise the conscientiousness of people to not let this monster literally destroy the family,” she said. “We hope the ARISE forum encourages other organizations, including churches, to put on seminars, forums and workshops to help educate us all on how to prevent domestic violence and abuse.”

For more information on tonight’s Domestic Violence/Abuse Prevention Forum and for more information on ARISE, contact Friar or Greer at (662) 834-0905.

To contact the featured presenters for future speaking engagements, call the William Kellibrew Foundation at (202) 271.7409 for William C. Kellibrew IV, and for Evangelist Voncele Savage, call “Help Meet,” LLC at (601) 613-0869 or fax (601) 924-0396.

If you are a victim of domestic violence, please get help immediately! Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233); TDD - 1-800-787-3224.