After the dust settles on your Black Friday shopping, consider using some of that money you saved to do good. The following Tuesday, look beyond your gift list to an organization doing good one child at a time. Launched in 2012, Giving Tuesday has become a global generosity movement. It encourages everyone to do good in their communities on the Tuesday after Black Friday. That can be a donation of money or time to one person or many, next door or across the world. For this year’s Giving Tuesday, Gabb encourages people to support Defend Innocence. This nonprofit organization’s goal is simple but serious: protecting children against sexual abuse. In a divisive year, that’s something we can all get behind.
Defend Innocence Understands the Problem
An estimated one in five children is sexually abused before they reach the age of 18. That’s more than one million kids abused in the United States every year. Defend Innocence identifies three key risk factors for sexual abuse:
- Age: Children between the ages of 7 and 13 are the most vulnerable.
- Disabilities: Kids with disabilities are three times more likely to be abused.
- Technology Use: About 34% of kids on the internet are exposed to unwanted sexual material.
The trauma experienced by kids who receive no support after being sexually abused follows them throughout their lives. They are more likely to have serious physical and mental health problems, low academic achievement and substance abuse issues. They’re also more likely to have unhealthy sexual relationships and to perpetrate sexual abuse as adults.
The good news? Kids who get the support they need can overcome this unimaginable trauma and lead healthy, productive lives.
Defend Innocence Empowers People
Defend Innocence provides education and online resources designed to empower parents, caregivers and communities to protect kids. Its work falls into three categories:
- Sharing the facts about child sexual abuse to raise awareness of the issue.
- Providing suggestions and tips for protecting children from sexual abuse.
- Connecting children who have been sexually abused and their parents to care.
Do Good for Defend Innocence
There are a lot of worthy nonprofit organizations out there. At Gabb, we think one dedicated to protecting kids from such unthinkable abuse stands out.
Gabb supports the goals of Defend Innocence. In fact, protecting kids from the harms of the internet and social media is the whole idea behind Gabb.
On Giving Tuesday, we encourage you to do one or more of the following to do good for Defend Innocence:
- Visit its website to more about child sexual abuse and the resources the nonprofit provides.
- Make a monetary donation to support the work of this 501(c)3 organization.
- Become a volunteer, whether to put on fundraisers, translate foreign languages, or educate others.
Defend Innocence believes the first thing you can do for a child who has been sexually abused is to believe them. Gabb believes in Defend Innocence. We hope you will, too.
Author Jana Dalby
Jana Dalby is a mother of eight children, a registered nurse, and one of Gabb’s earliest contributors.
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