.png){kind=logo}
How is it already July?!? As this year races by, we steadfastly continue to join with individuals, families, businesses, schools, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and community leaders to end assault, abuse, and trafficking against all women and girls. We are standing strong and are more determined than ever to continue serving others through our mission. Thank you for standing with us.
Keep Training
Through virtual and in-person education and training, SASS Go has reached women and girls from communities across the country and beyond with critical skills and information to safeguard their lives. So far this year, we have trained over 1100 women and girls in our self-defense courses and educated an additional 1900 individuals through virtual and in-person seminars. Over 70% of these participants have received training at a reduced or free cost, ensuring that SASS Go is able to reach even more individuals and communities.
Through SASS Go's training and education, participants learn to recognize and assess threats, reduce risk, neutralize threats, support survivors of assault and abuse, and access important resources. With each training, SASS Go expands its army of individuals who know more and do more to end violence, resulting in safer communities for all.
Keep Gathering
In February, SASS Go held the first-ever I Will Survive Women's Weekend! During this three-day, all-inclusive retreat, women from across the country gathered to learn from trusted experts in the fields of firearms, self-defense, and threat assessment and developed the mindset, skills, and wisdom needed to protect themselves and those they love.
Back by popular demand, we will be gathering again this October for the I Will Survive Women's Weekend. Registration for this landmark event is now open (click here). Space is limited, so reserve your place today for a weekend like no other! If you would like to sponsor the I Will Survive Weekend or ensure that a deserving woman is able to attend on scholarship, please click here or send us an email to team@sassgo.org.
Keep Solving
Through our crisis response consulting service, SASS Go identifies problematic trends and works to solve them. After discovering a disturbing and dangerous trend of drug-facilitated crimes being reported right here in our own backyard, SASS Go created and is facilitating the Critical Incident Response Team, which brings together leaders from the Attorney General's office, law enforcement, healthcare, victim services, and the greater community. Through this team, we developed a protocol and standards that will reduce drug-facilitated crime and support survivors.
In May, we met with leadership of the gathered institutions and all committed to finalizing and implementing the standards and protocol. Once finalized, SASS Go will train critical staff and roll out the new standards. What we create here in the Midlands of South Carolina will serve as a model for communities in South Carolina and across the nation, ultimately ensuring better care for survivors and accountability for perpetrators.
Keep Protecting
Our youth are vulnerable to threats from strangers and those they know, and it is imperative that we continue teaching girls at a young age just how strong, purposed, and loved they are. SASS Go's Miss Independent & Sassafras courses for elementary and middle school girls do just that in an age and developmentally appropriate way.
In order to reach even more youth with these courses, SASS Go recently held national instructor certification training in Salt Lake City, Utah so that experienced SASS Go instructors can share the Sassafras and Miss Independent courses in their communities. We look forward to reaching even more youth from California to South Carolina!
Keep Expanding
We are thrilled to have added communities in two more states to our Sassterhood! Texas and Arizona, welcome to the SASS Go Tribe! With this addition, SASS Go Instructors have now served women and girls in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Together, we will keep expanding to even more places, supporting even more survivors, protecting even more lives, and making even more communities safer.
Keep Giving
We are able to keep going because YOU keep giving. In May, SASS Go participated in Midlands Gives event where you helped raise over $10,000! Our very own Shannon Henry was featured in a report by WACH 57's Dara Khalid highlighting the great work of nonprofits in the Midlands of South Carolina. You can see the full report here!
In addition, thank you to the Greater Chapin Community Foundation! The foundation is supporting the critical work of nonprofit organizations in the greater Chapin area, and we are honored and grateful to have received funding to continue supporting women and girls in our own backyard. Also, thank you to our monthly donors whose consistent support provides us with critical revenue!
Our Sassters have shown up big to help support SASS Go's mission and the women and girls we serve, but we need more help! If you or someone you know wants to ensure safer communities for all and that fewer women and girls have to experience the devastation of assault, abuse, and trafficking, please click here and make your one-time or monthly donation today. Give boldly knowing that every penny counts and is purposed to accomplish our mission.
Keep Going
All this and it's only July! We look forward to what the remainder of the year has in store and the meaningful change that we can bring about together. We all have a critical role to play in eradicating assault, abuse, and trafficking and making our communities safer. Thank you for being a valuable member of our team and GOING with us!
