College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Braddell
Epstein
Hendren

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

?About three-quarters of all lone-offender violence against women and 45 percent of violence involving multiple offenders was perpetrated by offenders whom the victim knew.? ?In 29 percent of all violence against women by a lone offender, the perpetrator was an intimate (husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend).? ?Women were about six times more likely than men to experience violence committed by an intimate? (Brown, Dubau, and McKeon 3).

Domestic violence is an on going problem that most people are more inclined to dismiss than to acknowledge. Our goal with this social change project was to bring about social awareness to an issue that has plagued women and children since the beginning of time. All to often women and children find themselves in dangerous situations when they have to abandon everything and leave for their safety. Out of haste, many items that you or I take for granted on a daily basis are left behind. We wanted to provide these women and children with some of the simple pleasures in life that they may no longer possess, to help make their transition into a safer atmosphere a little easier.

Our first step towards meeting this challenge was to contact Perette K. Godwin, Resource Development Director for the Center for Community Solutions. In our meeting with Ms. Godwin we expressed our enthusiasm towards assisting the Center, and discussed some of the needs of the center. We were informed that the one of the greatest needs was for personal care products and children?s activity items.

Our initial intention for the project was to create care packages for women and children containing such items as hairbrushes, toothbrushes, shampoo, and activity items for the children. We intended to do this by soliciting large superstores for donations to our community outreach project. We planned to have these companies furnish on-going donations to the Center for Community Solutions rather than a one-time contribution.

Initially, we attempted to go directly to the managers of these super stores and talk to them face-to-face regarding our project. After many attempts we realized that we were not making enough progress and decided to prepare packets to send to the local store managers. The packets contained a cover letter; a copy of our proposal; a letter from Ms. Godwin acknowledging her support of the project; a letter of verification from Professor Dunn; and a list of common items needed by the Center for Community Solutions. A few days after they had received these packets we followed up with either a phone call or a personal visit to inquire about what their company may be able to do for us. This new approach proved to be successful.

After receiving donations and analyzing our stock, we realized that our initial care package idea was not as efficient as we had planned it to be. We determined that all of the products that we accumulated would benefit the women in the shelters more efficiently if they were distributed on an as needed basis rather than in care packages. We decided that we would present the shelter with the items that we received and allow them to distribute them how they see fit.

Overall we are extremely pleased with the results of our social change project. We feel that we have brought awareness to local companies in the San Diego County area. Most of the people that we came into contact with were more than happy to lend a helping hand. We are excited to announce that we received over $2000 worth of merchandise including two computers. Some of the other items that we received consist of long distance calling cards, shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lotions, hair sprays, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, coloring books, crayons, board games, and other miscellaneous items. We are pleased with the results and the education that we have received from engaging in this community outreach project. We are eager to present The Center for Community Solutions with our donations and we are delighted that we had the opportunity to help out such an important cause.