Purple Ribbon Breakfast and Workshop to Feature National Keynote Speaker and Author

Written by Doug Riley

Thursday, 07 October 2004

Kansas City, MO (October 7, 2004) – A fundraising event to benefit the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project (KCAVP) – the area’s first and only nonprofit organization dedicated to providing previously unmet services and ending domestic violence, sexual assault, and bias crimes in Kansas City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community – will be held on Friday, October 29. The fundraiser, called the Purple Ribbon Breakfast and Workshop, is the last in a series of events sponsored by KCAVP to recognize October as National Domestic Violence Awareness month.

The Purple Ribbon Breakfast will be held from 7:30-8:45 a.m. at the Kauffman Foundation (4800 Rockhill Road in Kansas City, MO). A separate workshop will be held in the same location from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and will be led by Dr. Lori Girshick, noted author and speaker. The event is open to the public, and reservations and pre-payment is required. Admission to the breakfast is $25, the workshop is $50, and to both events are $75. People interested in attending should call 816-561-0550 for reservations.

The highlight of the breakfast and workshop will be keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, Lori B. Girshick, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Wingspan Anti-Violence Program in Tuscon, Arizona. A full-time staff member of Wingspan since 2003, Girshick speaks nationally on the subject of LGBT domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as economic justice and gender identity issues affecting the LGBT community. She is the author of Woman to Woman Sexual Violence-Does She Call it Rape?

“The KCAVP is a remarkable organization offering much-needed resources to the LGBT communities,” says Lori B. Girshick. “LGBT individuals no longer need to face abuse alone. Victim/survivors of domestic violence, sexual assaults and other crimes have support and advocacy with KCAVP staff. Community support of the KCAVP will contribute to social justice and make a difference in the lives of LGBT people.”

Doug Riley, Executive Director of KCAVP, says, “The Purple Ribbon Breakfast and Workshop will be an energetic and upbeat finale to our month-long effort to raise awareness about LGBT domestic violence. We are excited to have Dr. Girshick come and speak about the important and quelled topic of woman to woman sexual and domestic violence. This event represents the best opportunity for people who want to close this gap in services to do something real and positive about it.”

For more information about the Purple Ribbon Breakfast and Workshop to benefit KCAVP or to register, call 816-561-0550 or visit http://www.kcavp.org/.

KCAVP is a Missouri nonprofit corporation committed to providing services, advocacy and education for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and bias crimes within the five counties that encompass the metropolitan Kansas City area as well as western Missouri and eastern Kansas. For more information about KCAVP, visit http://www.kcavp.org/.