Purple Ribbon Breakfast to Feature National Keynote Speaker

Written by Doug Riley

Monday, 20 October 2003

Kansas City, MO (October 20, 2003) - 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 and sexual assault in Kansas City's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community - will be held on Friday, October 24. The fundraiser, called the Purple Ribbon Breakfast, is the last in a series of events sponsored by KCAVP to recognize October as National Domestic Violence Awareness month.

The Purple Ribbon Breakfast, which is also sponsored by The Midwest Times, will be held from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at KCPT's Community Room (125 East 31st Street). The event is open to the public, and donations begin at $20. Participants who donate $50 or more will receive a free bag of Purple Ribbon Roast, a coffee that has been specially blended for KCAVP. People interested in participating are asked to call 816-561-0550 for reservations.

The highlight of the breakfast will be keynote speaker, Rachel Baum, Associate Director of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects (NCAVP) in New York. A full-time staff member of NCAVP since 1999, Baum 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.

"What KCAVP has been able to accomplish in such a short time with very few resources, has been remarkable," says Baum. "In order to ensure the continued success of anti-violence programs such as KCAVP, local LGBT communities, governmental and other mainstream funding sources must provide support financially, through volunteering, and by truly understanding the value of such organizations to the health and safety of our communities."

Doug Riley, Executive Director of KCAVP, says, "The Purple Ribbon Breakfast will be an energetic and upbeat finale to our month-long effort to raise awareness about LGBT domestic violence, and the lack of services available to victims living in the Kansas City area. 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 to benefit KCAVP, call 816-561-0550 or visit http://www.kcavp.org/.

KCAVP is a Missouri nonprofit corporation committed to providing services, advocacy and education for LGBT-related domestic violence and sexual assault within the five counties that encompass the metropolitan Kansas City area.

NCAVP is a coalition of over 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victim advocacy and documentation programs located throughout the United States. In cooperation with its member organizations, NCAVP is committed to addressing the pervasive problem of violence committed against and within the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive (LGBTH) communities. For more information about NCAVP, visit http://www.avp.org/.