Comments

Dear Maggie, I just wanted to thank you so much for making this available to everyone and free no less. I am a 37 year old Mom of 5. In 2004 when my last child was 4 days old I noticed a neighbor girl riding her bike outside my home in a small community in Illinois. She stopped to take a drink of her water and I saw a man get out of his car and try to take her off her bike. I knew this little girl who was 8 at the time for most of her life, and I knew I didn't know this man. I ran outside yelling and he fled. By God's grace I happened to look over and got his licence plate number. Unfortunately he left my home and 45 min. later (presumably) kidnapped and raped a 13 year old. He then was caught the next day and is still in jail awaiting a trial. My point is this 8 year old is always very assure of herself, but when this happened she didn't even yell, and having 3 girls of my own, I need them to know how to be prepared. I have lived in my community all my life and never thought that this would happen here but it did, and I was very comfortable in thinking that. Thank you for caring about our children, and helping everyone feel like they don't have to be a victim, but to be secure in knowing that they can be prepared and protect themselves if need be.

I will gladly vote for Dallas to win the grant from Volvo. I learned about JYF from a segment on CNN. I intend to share it with my 12-year old daughter, because I am NOT one of those people who thinks it "could never happen to my child..." - I know it can happen to anyone, anywhere, and I want her to feel empowered to protect herself. Just the confidence she will receive from this DVD could make all the difference.

I want you to know that I don't often donate money, but maybe my contribution will allow just one extra young woman to see your DVD, and you never know what a difference it could make. Keep up the inspiring work.

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and New Year

I don't exactly live in the BEST neighborhood and I walk to and from school every 5 feet I constantly catch myself turning around to make sure I'm not being followed, and the cat calls from way older men just scares me to death that one of them will act on it one day so thats why I am writing cuz I can't afford any type of classes or anything, I figure this is the next best thing (: and I think what you girls have done is just amazing you should be so so proud of yourselves, that's from the bottom of my heart and I'm sure you have saved lives. Thanks again.

As a former Police Officer and having approximately twelve years in security and law enforcement; I applaud your organizations efforts to teach girls and young women how to defend themselves against predators.

Watched the DVD last night with my daughter. She enjoyed the insight and tips provided. She will be having some of her friends over to watch as well. She is talking about taking it to school and asking the counselor if she can show it to other female students!

Thank you so much for this project.

I am the media Specialist at Wittenberg Elementary/Middle School and I just downloaded your "Just Yell Fire!" for our School nurse. In watching the beginning to see if the download worked, I was instantly drawn in by how good it was. I watched the entire program and will be having my 17 year old daughter watch it tonight. Thank you for making available such a well done presentation on a very important topic. Our pre-teen and teenage girls need to hear repeatedly that they have the right to say "NO!" and that they can change their minds. They also need to know what to do if they find themselves in one of these situations.

I was so impressed with the Just Yell Fire video that a few weeks ago I brought it to the attention of one of the guidance counselors at our local high school, Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale, Illinois. I got word from him today that he had shared the video with the school's physical education and health teachers. They thought it was great and they have decided to use it in their classes.

I first read about the video "just yell fire" in last weeks People magazine, and immediately went on line to get more information. As a gynecologist, I have seen firsthand the lifelong devastation of sexual assault. As a martial artist, I understand the importance of empowering everyone to be able to defend themselves. I am encouraging all of my friends, family, coworkers, etc. to visit your site, and learn more about this important message. I also hope to teach some of these skills at our next office meeting. Thank you, Thank you, for making this video.

My daughter is about to go to college and I am interested in your DVD. I would like to give her some skills to avoid an unwanted encounter. I myself was the victim of an assault during my sleep; fortunately, I woke up and my instincts took over to fight back. My attack could have been much worse as many of his victims didn't make it and were permanently disfigured.
Best of luck with your cause, it is an awesome one.

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.