Comments

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.

I say "kudos" to you girls from making this video. I have three daughters and I cannot tell you how important this subject is to me. I also have four nieces. When I saw you girls on Montel Williams on Friday, I was totally impressed. I wish my sister had seen this video when she was younger. She was grabbed on her way to school. She was almost forced into a car while walking to school. She was only 14 years old. Thank God everything truned out ok.

I cannot even imagine how many lives you have changed since the video. I will definitely put it to good use. I can guarantee that everyone who has a daughter, niece, granddaughter, girlfriend or what have you, will sleep a little better at night because of what you girls hae done.

Thank you so much for all of your efforts on trying to stop things like this from happening to any other of the girls out there.

I just used some of your organization's history in my end of course sum up for my word processing and computer tech classes. My overall message this year has been to encourage my middle school aged students to use the tools being learned to find their voice and to be heard.

After I send this email out I plan on purchasing your book to use in future classes.

Thank you for being such a great role model to my students who are told by society and by education in general to sit down and be quiet far too often.

Sincerely,

Calvin

Matheson Junior High

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.

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.

I am the Director of Marketing at Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette. This film is amazing. Many thanks.

I am a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I am 49 years old and the mother of three boys and one girl. The values that I have seen in your process are just what I am looking for.

My name is Ellie and I'm fifteen years old. Today I was reading a Tae Kwon Do magazine and ran across Just Yell Fire. So I went to your website and watched the movie. I think what you guys are doing is awesome and that girls need to know that its ok to fight back and don't be afraid if someone threatens you. I'm just a yellow belt in TKD right now. But I've already learned some important self defense and how to help others in a harmful situation. The video was great and I really appretiated that you guys showed different ways to defend yourself, in different situations. My mom and Dad have always taught me to walk with confidence and to alway pay attention to that gut feeling. I can usually tell when something doesn't feel right and I always try to avoid vulnerable situations. I think that the message you guys are trying to spead is extremely important and that every girl should see this video. Thank you so much.

I am wrapping up the semester and showed your story again. I talk to my students about finding a voice, being empowered etc. My goal is to get them to realized the power they have through the tools we learn in my class.

Anyway, after we got done talking about you and others who have found a voice, I let them log onto your website and encouraged to look at "Just Yell Fire", we had already talked about the video's origins and message. At the end of class a very quiet 8th grader who never really speaks out much came up to my desk.

"Do you know how fast they can send the video? I am going to be moving soon."

Maybe that doesn't have the impact for you that it had on me. I have no idea what her personal story is, but the really timid girl making such an inquiry made me wonder.

I don't know how long videos take to ship. But I happily gave her mine. She was stunned and looked at it and then me with a wide eye, then said thanks and walked back to her seat still looking at it.

It was a nice moment, just wanted to share.

Thanks for who you are and what you stand for.

I watched 'Just Yell Fire', and told my form tutor at school about it. It's now going to be shown to everyone in the school, and hopefully they will show their friends at other schools as well. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in the program for creating it; I know several people who have been in similar situations to those shown on the video, and they appreciate so much that something is finally being done to raise awareness of it, so that others will not be so unfortunate.