If you live in our service area and have received our residential campaign letter, you know that we are focused on heroes. Not the sandwiches, but the real people doing extraordinary things kind of heroes. 

We all have it in us to be a hero, maybe not Man of Steel redirects meteor's path...saves earth, or Boy Wonder holds back lava flow to save town kind of heroes, but heroes just the same.  We live among heroes who go unnoticed most days, policemen, firemen, doctors and nurses, teachers and social service workers who save lives as part of their jobs. When we think of them at all, some of us  might think appreciatively. but many believe they are just doing what they are paid to do, nothing special... until the life they save is someone you love.

Last week my daughter, Lyndsay, was home visiting from Chicago and ran into the director of a program she volunteered for when she lived in Red Wing. The story she later share with me, I want to share with you because I think it is heroic.

The agency Lyndsay volunteered for is called S.A.R.A.-Sexual Assault Resource Agency. SARA actively supports, educates, empowers and advocates on behalf of victims and others impacted by sexual violence. Regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ability, SARA provides the following :

• Free & confidential services to victims of sexual assault, their family and/or friends
• 24-hr Support Line (1.800.519.6690) 
• Advocacy Listening and Support Support Groups 
• Resources Referrals 
• Training/Education

They used to provide prevention, awareness and outreach programs but due to a decrease in funding, gas to get them to schools has been cut. They have had to halt their prevention work and have closed their office in Wabasha.

When we take time to think, prevention is always cheaper and a better investment than recovery, but in the non-profit world prevention doesn't have the data to back it up and let's admit it, prevention work is just not as shocking, or dramatic as recovery work. A group can work diligently and with much success on suicide prevention among teens, but you can't count the teens who didn't commit suicide. People only pay attention when there has been a teen suicide.

Likewise, SARA doesn't have numbers for how many date rapes don't occur after they educate young people, or how many people leave what might become an abusive situation before the abuse escalates. We only seem to count the incidences of violence and can never know the incidence rate of avoidance of violence. But we all know we need education and prevention.

The Director of SARA, Emily Baldwin and her one and only staff person, Katherine Cross are heroes today. They received notice of a large cut in funding and had to find a way to survive on much less. Katherine and Emily discussed their options over and over. Any option that called for cutting programs further, or leaving victims without support were not considered. The decision they made was not accepted by their board of directors without much persuasion.  In the end, the board relented and agreed to Emily and Katherine accepting a reduction of one quarter of their salaries.

To save the programs they have worked so hard to build and to not leave victims of assault and abuse without support, they are working one week each month ...for $0.00 pay, for FREE.  "I've never been in this for the money and I am never going to choose to pay myself a salary on the backs of rape victims" explained Executive Director, Emily Baldwin.

Ask yourself, do you believe in what you do enough to work for free?  

These young women and the volunteers they train are already heroes in our community for the work they do every day. Today, they have become super heroes in my eyes. How about yours?

If you would like to help SARA by volunteering, with financial support or to donate much needed gas cards,contact Emily Baldwin at 651-388- 9360.

 Thanks

 Maureen Nelson