Share Bravery and Volunteer

I've been in touch with a few of you the past couple of weeks, trying to hash out details and snafu's for Bravery. I want to say thank you for your patience with me as I run around in a frenzy trying to coordinate communication between all the many elements that will make Bravery successful. Those of you who are making calls for inkind donations for me and have volunteered your experienced skills have helped me feel like I am not alone in the efforts to bring Bravery together.

I have confirmed 8 items so far for the Ebay auction. Since the goal is to have 50 items or more for people to bid on, I will need more volunteers to contact companies for inkind donations. Keep in mind that there are people from all across the country who will be viewing Bravery and bidding on the auction, so request items from companies that can be redeemed anywhere in the US as well as items here in Arizona and in other states. In return for the donations, Bravery will market the company as a sponsor on the website, Ebay, and on some collateral materials where appropriate. Please contact me for more information.

The financial goal of Bravery is to collect $10,000.00 per beneficiary and there are 10, which means a total of $100,000.00 by the end of October. None of this is for Bravery Project, Inc.; it is all for the nonprofits who are doing such great work and service for others in need. This may be a high goal, but obtainable with your help. For example, if 10 businesses are willing to donate $1,000.00 each, then 10% of the goal has been made. Breaking it down into bite size chunks and working together produces amazing results. I believe we can do it! A donation request letter has been created that can be used to send to businesses. If you would like to go this route, please let me know.

One of the best ways to market something is through good old fashioned word-of-mouth. On the Bravery Project website, is a link to a page where you can share Bravery with others. My business card, a simple flyer about the online show and auction, Powerpoint presentation, and posters are available to be emailed, downloaded and printed along with a list of ideas on how you can help spread the word about Bravery. If you have any trouble with downloading any of the items, let me know as well. We have only two months before showtime!!

~ Together We Can Make A Difference ~

Speaking Out

At the tender age of 18 with a bright future, Jennifer Ann Crecente was killed by her ex-boyfriend. This extremely painful experience has led Drew Crecente to speak out and fight for awareness in teen dating violence with a nonprofit organization called Jennifer Ann Memorial Group, Inc. With some perseverance, this devoted father has managed to mass produce a free Educational Card about Teen Dating Violence explaining the warning signs and how to get help. Cards are sent to schools and the staff make them available to students. He has managed, on his own, to send out over 170,000 of these cards to high schools all across the United States. Impressive.
(Order here if you want to request cards for your local schools.)

I am honored to say that Drew and Jennifer are part of the program and will have a portrait created for the Bravery Project.

In our conversation, we spoke about how Jennifer never talked about her stalker or any of the distress she was under. With a good relationship between parent and teen, it must be baffling to think "why didn't she say something?" One prominent reason is the shame and embarrassment of admitting to someone, especially a parent who is loved and respected.

Silence is dangerous. Dangerous for the person who suffers and dangerous for the community who ignores the symptoms. There is more awareness about domestic violence than ever before, but getting people to talk about it is a different story, let alone DO something about it.

Below are two videos: The first is an Australian commercial that is a perfect example of apathy as an accomplice. The second is an interview with Patrick Stewart. You will recognize him as Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek the Next Generation hit TV series. His interview was done for Amnesty International, but speaks to all of us about personal experience of a boy growing up with domestic violence with hope for the future.

News Bites

There are several exciting updates to share this week. Bravery has an official logo for one. Something very simple, clean, easy to understand and mass print. Now it's time for press release packages to go out. Please send an email if there are any media ideas you can share.


Speaking of media contacts, Domestic Violence...the Musical? is about ready for it's debut in El Paso, Texas. Linda and John King have made it a reality. Hopefully when you visit this blog, you can take some time to look at the real time news flashes on the left side of the screen. There is always very interesting information from around the world on domestic violence--art too if you are into that. Well, to my pleasant surprise, one of the news items happens to be about the musical in El Paso. You can also read about it here. I will be teaming up with the Kings to set up an official website for the musicals in the near future. Additionally, Bravery will be joining the DV Musical at the Herberger in September. I've always wanted to show my art at the Herberger, and we'll be there! Will you?


Another exciting adventure for Bravery is a new event at Cup O' Karma Cafe for a Cause, formally known as Into the Bean, as a benefit for National Advocacy and Training Network. The coffee shop is an uber-cool place with a fold out stage and fun atmosphere. The reception for that one is scheduled September 4th. Even before the October debut, Bravery is in a position to start helping other nonprofits in a specific way. More to come on this later.


One of the items to be offered at these events will be Bravery t-shirts. I found someone to sponsor 100 t-shirts and another company to donate the screen printing. What a blessing. Now what we need are some cool ideas for t-shirt designs. Something that is fun and presents the message of being Brave. If you have an idea, please send an email. I'd love to hear from you.