I attended the 2009 International Student Leadership Conference, at which Dallas Jessup spoke to everyone and then conducted a workshop to teach us how to defend ourselves, which I also attended. Since her speech, I have become increasingly passionate in the fight against domestic violence. I have helped with projects and fundraisers for the past two years, and this year, I am trying to start a club at my school that focuses on raising awareness and raising money to help fight against domestic violence. I was wondering if there would be any possible way that Dallas Jessup could come and speak to our school briefly about the warning signs of a dangerous situation, and how to defend ourselves if ever caught in one. Also to talk about how she has changed the world with her film and book, and anything else she wishes to speak to the student body about. I am sure that our school would be honored to have her speak to us.
Comments
Just sort of off the cuff, Maggie, I got to thinking today about how doctors and inventors also do things to benefit the public, but they don't give their services or ideas away for free. For what you and your wonderful Dallas have done, you deserve to be multi-millionaires. JYF is a priceless gift for all of mankind! For it, I'm truly sorry that the proper gratitude it deserves can only be expressed in the old cliché that no words in the English language are sufficient enough; no word, no phrase. To me, this is one of less than maybe a handful of ideas since time immemorial that will prove to have such a thorough, beneficial impact on mankind.
Give us the power, the ability to defend ourselves and live.
I am a junior at Gettysburg College in PA. I don't know if you have been watching the news lately, but there has been a murder on our college campus last Thursday. One student (a male senior) strangled and murdered his (ex-)girlfriend of one year (a sophomore). It really shook our campus hard, along with myself, even though i did not know either one that was involved. After breaking down a little tonight, i realized, crying was not going to change the past; nor prevent incidents, assaults, nor murders like this from happening again in the future.
What will? Taking action!
I found your contact information after googling 'self defense for women classes' and wanted to get in contact with you right away. I was hoping you could hold self defense classes for female students, or any woman (faculty, staff or students) on our campus to help protect us if we were to ever get ourselves in this type of situation. It is very scary to know that an innocent 19 year old young woman was strangled, stabbed and murdered by someone that loved her for a year. Not even a stranger, or a crazy drug addict rapist on the street! Her boyfriend! Someone she trusted and loved! How scary is that? She was not able to get away, she was not able to defend herself. She died because of that.
But you... you have the power to give us woman that power. You have the ability to give us woman the ability to defend ourselves. To win. To live. And to help with our recovery of her death on our campus. I believe that immediately holding these self defense classes on our campus will prove that Emily Rachel Silverstein did not die in vain.
Please help me, help us. Give us the power, the ability to defend ourselves and live.
Your an amazing young lady. I applaud your efforts. I wish that when I was your age I had this type of information. My twin sister could have protected herself and never wouild have developed a drug problem. I saw you on Montel and haven't been able to get you out of my mind. Your one of the Angels God speaks of, that are put on this earth. We are truly blessed. Thank you again for trying to make this a safer place for women, we must all stick together. You have helped so many.
My daughter turns 15 next month and I am an elementary school teacher in Santa Rosa, CA. I heard about the movie on Clark Howard last night and listened to a few seconds on my computer. I am really impressed.
What a proactive, "real" and effective way to reach and keep our girls safe.
Thank you very much, and GOOD JOB to the gals who made this!
Actually, I have to tell you that I passed this link on to my colleagues at work and got a token safety award for this information. I have hoped for quite awhile that all of the schools would implement some sort of self-defense training for ALL kids, as they are all vulnerable to the MANY creeps out there.
Thanks, again.
Thank you. I saw what you girls do on a tv show just last week. It's amazing that you all are taking time to inform young ladies on what to do. I myself am 25 but women my age and older need to be just as informed as teens because a man or woman can try to over power us just the same. Being aware of ways to assist in attack is life saving and I appreciate what you ladies are doing. Thank you again. God bless.
I did a self defense speech two weeks ago. Another student came to me and told me she had got the Just Yell Fire DVD. A few of her daughter's friends were approached a week ago, they were lucky enough to get away. Now her daughter is taking the DVD to school for her class to watch. I'm again SO happy that you have made this movie, and I'm glad that there are girls learning to defend themselves. THANK YOU!!!
So impressed with your story
I just returned back to Houston after attending the National Charity League convention in Seattle where I attended your seminar. I was so impressed with your story that it became one of the first things I told my 14 year old daughters about, even before I unpacked my suitcase! Your message of empowerment and following your passion was so inspirational that I could not wait to tell them about it. Both of them thought we should get your DVD to use to teach our chapter members your safety techniques and should become a grade level requirement.
Thank you for being such an incredible mother to such an obviously outstanding daughter.
Thank you Dallas for having these helpful dvd training programs. I have 2 daughters and these will bring more awareness to the danger that's out there. Keep up the good work. I applaud everyone involved in making this program, again thank you so much for all the hard work you all have put in.