This past year was one of the most rewarding and challenging for CAPSEA since our founding 40 years ago. 2020, a tumultuous year that no one could predict, has brought with it unique hurdles, including a loss of fundraising opportunities, all while isolation has resulted in an historic demand for our services.

Like all of you, we have done our best to quickly adjust. We had no choice: in our line of work people’s lives and safety are at risk. Abuse and crime victims come to us in their darkest hour. When they’re struggling to find a way out of a dangerous situation, we are often their last hope. Telling them that we don’t have the capacity to help them is NOT an option.

Inspired by the strength that we see every day in the survivors that we work with, the CAPSEA team rallied together to meet the increase in demand, and did everything we could to help those in need. Working nights and weekends, missing time with our loved ones – I have been in awe of our team and their commitment to CAPSEA’s mission. When you work at a victim services organization you accept that you’re potentially risking your safety, but this year was the first time that we had to ask our staff to possibly risk their health in order to provide victims the support they needed. Not even a global pandemic and a national shutdown could stop us!