Comments

I saw this advertised in In Touch magazine. It is such a great idea! I have friends that have teenage daughters and mine are also reaching that age. Thank you!

What you are doing is amazing. I plan to have a "Just Yell Fire" birthday party for my 18th birthday. I think all my friends need to know your techniques before we head off to college. Thank you!

I just saw your story on Montel Williams and it brought tears to my eyes! I was 15 when I was raped! I only wish I saw this video 20 years ago. I live in a gated community with security guards and a few months ago, someone was able to get into the community and attempt a rape. You are never too safe or protected...no matter how much security there is. This video is not only a great resource to young girls, but to a 35 year old victim of a rape that happened 20 years ago. How many WOMEN don't know how to protect themselves? Sorry for the rant, but the segment on Montel brought out all those feeling that I had as a 15 year old virgin. I want to give a copy of this dvd to any female I come across. There are so many teenage girls here that can benefit from this very much needed video. I can't really donate anything, maybe help with the shipping costs, but what I can do is spread the message that we don't have to be victims and that we can learn to defend ourselves. Please let me know what you would need from me to make this happen. I am in Central Florida. Again,Thanks for bringing this to the forefront,

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.

So pleased to know you and your work

This is a comment sent in to our trainers Leila Rae Sommerfeld and Valerie Mainridge of Gresham, OR

Thank you again from our entire team! You and Valerie did such a fabulous job. Several of our volunteers commented at the end that your traiing was the best self-defense class they had ever taken - and several had attended classes in the past. you adapted your presentation to fit perfectly into our time constraints and skill level. You and Valerie brought such great energy and enthusiasm to our class. We especially appreciate you taking time on a Sunday. We feel empowered to continue to advocate for sexually exploited women in and around Portland.

We are so pleased to know you and your work. I hope this is only the beginning of our partnership.

Hi. I am a member of the Sexual Assault Task Force in Morehead, Kentucky. I saw your write up in the In Touch magazine and went to your website. I think what you did is amazing and the reason why I am emailing you is because I would really like to have this on DVD so the task force can use it during speeches and activities that we plan throughout the year to raise awareness in our community.

Shirley and I have both seen this video and feel it is one of the brightest productions that every woman of any age should watch and learn from!

Thank you so much for everything that you have done with your involvment in 'Just yell fire'. I have a 13 year old daughter with a bunch of very close friends. As soon as we get our d.v.d. we will be having a pizza night with them all and watching "JUST YELL FIRE". The world needs more people like you.

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 read about the wonderful JYF project in my latest People magazine, and immediately had to check out your website. I watched with horror the videotaped abduction of Carly Brucia, and made my 14 year-old daughter watch it as well. This is truly a parent's worst nightmare.

Thank you for this important work.