Because I couldn’t have said it better, I share this letter from Bz Tat, the talented painter behind Okey’s Promise:
Okey’s Promise is a public art project that brings awareness to an important issue that is relatively unknown to the general public: the connection between animal maltreatment, child abuse and domestic violence. Often people think that tending to abused and neglected animals is a noble endeavor, but not as critical as other causes such as those affecting children. Years of research and my own years of experience as a counselor with children have shown otherwise.
When animals are in danger, chances are, children are too. It is essential to tend to both animals and children in our communities.
The short video below explains the issue and the genesis of the Okey’s Promise project. I hope that you will consider watching the video and visiting both my Kickstarter fund raising page and website dedicated to the project. Any moral and/or financial support you can lend will be very valuable to me.
Time is of the essence. Kickstarter is a time limited program. [More than half way to the fundraising goal, this project will only be funded if $5,000 is pledged by Thursday, Jan 27, 12:12PM EST.]
If you have already pledged support, thank you SO much!
If you have or have not yet pledged support, please share this with others who you think may want to lend their support by forwarding this email to them. If you know of any corporate sponsors who would like to back the project, please forward to them as well.
Pledges can be made in any amounts over $1. Every little bit helps! Your pledge goes to help intervene with animal abuse, child abuse and domestic violence. It also helps support the arts by sponsoring an artist and creative entrepreneur in establishing her career in creating socially relevant public art.
Thank you so much for your interest. Please let me know if you have any questions. Here are the links to the Kickstarter fund raising page and the Okey’s Promise website:
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bztat/okeys-promise-art-for-a-cause
Website: www.okeyspromise.com
This is great! There's a group in Phoenix that has a very similar mission. Gabriel's Angels takes therapy dogs to domestic violence shelters and group homes to help child abuse victims (story here – http://ow.ly/3FZS2). They've often seen animal abuse in their home, and the dogs not only help them learn to love again but prevents them from becoming animal abusers – one of the first steps along the path to domestic abuse.
Caring for animals can break the cycle of violence! Good luck with this fantastic endeavor.
Sonia,
That sounds amazing! Animals have such healing powers. People can open their hearts to compassion and care through animals in ways that people interacting with people can not. We're still laying the groundwork to start a rescue locally and, if it gets off the ground after the zoning laws, property acquisition, etc., we want to incorporate a healing aspect like this within the community.
Thanks for sharing and giving me a living example to emulate.
don't they say a lot of sociopathic behaviour starts with animal cruelty in childhood?
i wish you luck with the project!
Georgia,
I've heard that on just about every crime TV show there is and have no doubt there is truth to it.
While this project isn't mine, I too wish them well. It's very worthy, indeed.