Scared To Death

Scared To Death

·         Did you know...

• 160,000 children FEAR going to school EVERY DAY
• 30 % of all parents FEAR for THEIR child's SAFETY every day? 
• Every 30 minutes all over the world a child attempts suicide? 
• Even adults suffer from bullying on the job?
• A whopping 18.9 working days are lost each year due to workers being afraid to go to work?

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It's true. We live in a world where kids, teens, and adults are literally scared to death. Most would rather die, than face another day at school, at work, or somewhere else being bullied. And who could blame them?

Our family/dogs have been called to go out of the comforts of our home, city, and state to educate others and help set them free. Normally I'm excited and jump at the chance to travel and go, especially when it involves helping others. I grew up on the streets years ago and really want to reach the hurting. But this week I had the opportunity to speak with a lady who moved here from Phoenix, Arizona. She explained that there were so many gangs there that nearly every day her husband left for work he was shot at, and that now, when her kids hear any popping sound, like fireworks, they jump and are afraid.

Hearing her story made me afraid. Gangs today are more violent than ever. Funny, earlier in the week before I met this woman I began doing research on gang activity. It didn't bother me to find that 40% of all gang members were teens and that there is gang activity in every city with a population of 250,000, because I live in a small town of Owosso, Michigan (population 15,713). No biggie. We don't have gangs here. I was gathering the research for our upcoming CHANGE Benefit and for future workshops. But after I spoke with this woman and reflected on the notes I had just taken, I woke up.

            SOME ALARMING STATS:

• There are approximately 24,500 gangs in the U.S. There were an estimated 750,000 gang members in 2000. The 2009 estimate is One Million gang members with 147,000 of them currently incarcerated.

• Of the 1 million gang members, about 40% are juveniles (under 18) and 60% are adults, or about 400,000 teenage gang members and 600,000 adult gang members.

• Between 90% to 94% of gang members are male. Between 6% to 10% are female.

• Every city in the U.S. with at least 250,000 people has gang activity. 86% of those with at least 100,000 people report gang activity

*59% of all homicides in 2001 in Los Angeles and 53% in Chicago were gang related, there was a total of 698 gang related homicides in there two cities combined where as 130 other cities with population of at least 100,000 with gang problems reported having a total of 637 homicides between them

REASONS MOST JOIN GANGS:

• Low income

• Learning disabilities and emotional disorders: 60% - 78% of Incarcerated gang members have emotional and learning disabilities. This is the percent found by states that test all delinquents for special needs

• School Failure and Truancy

• No involvement in positive activities outside of school

• Friends and peers who are delinquent

• Early involvement in petty theft and behavioral disorders in grade school

• Sexual abuse and victimization

• Family dysfunction

• Early drug use and sexual activity

• Emotional disorders

• Exposure to violence

Everything in life I've done afraid. 

I've battled panic attacks since I was a young girl. Every time I get up to speak in front of a crowd I'm nervous, but after about a minute or so, I get over it, and I'm able to deliver a message of hope to a people that are at their wits ends. I won't let fear hold me back from saving other people's lives. 

No matter how scary it looks out there, we will fight this war on ABUSE, BULLYING and VIOLENCE, but we are going to need your support, through prayer, donations, and word of mouth to help pave the way for us to speak as we travel around the country.

We need commitments from you: If you would like to read more about what we do, what we believe, and what we've done already log onto www.abusebites.com

 

*I Will Support Abuse Bites through Prayer—Email us @ abusebites@gmail.com and write "Prayer" in the Subject box/ send us a little note, introducing yourself, and we will get back to you regularly with a list of current prayer needs.

*I Will Support Abuse Bites through a Monthly Financial Commitment—Email us @ abusebites@gmail.com and write "Monthly Financial Commitment" in the subject line and let us know how much you'd like to pledge/give per month and how you'd like to pay and we'll get back to you on a variety of ways you can send in your monthly commitment.

*I will Support Abuse Bites by Raising Awareness In My Community & Setting Up an ABUSE BITES RALLY—Email us @ abusebites@gmail.com and write "Abuse Bites Rally" in the subject line and give us your information and what you'd like to see happen in your community and we'll set the date and work closely with you to plan it all out.

*I will Donate now and when I can in the future, because I believe in what your family is doing and that Abuse Bites and I want to help Stop Abuse, Bullying and Violence. We'd also like to hear from you