Community
Copyright By Lillian Smith Family Violence Foundation
143 Pelican Cove Dr. Rockwall TX 75087
214-256-4071 or email us at jj@lilliansmith.org
NEED A PUBLIC SPEAKER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION'S MEETING?
Family violence can be prevented and stopped - or at least reduced. Public awareness of the problem and solutions is one of the keys.
The Lillian Smith Family Violence Foundation provides speakers to the community who create awareness and prevention programs for organizations, clubs, schools and churches. Our speakers have the experience and skills to help any group.
The Foundation leadership also consults with schools and businesses which desire to help bring an end to elationship violence.
To schedule a speaker, or for more information, please contact us.
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Jim Buffington - Corporate Vice President & General Manager, the Merrill Corporation; Bridges to Life prison ministry volunteer; Dallas County victim impact panel volunteer, plus family violence survivor.
When Jim was just a young boy, his father hired two "hit men" to kill his mother, plus Jim and his two brothers. Although they did murder his mother, they spared the lives of the children. Although Jim's father, a former church music director, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, he always maintained his innocence, until years later he finally admitted his guilt. For many years, Jim worked hard to support whom he thought was his innocent father, only to eventually have to face the shock that his father was guilty after all. Hear his gripping story of how his family was devastated by the murder; continuous court room and prison dilemas; the dramatic admission of guilt by his father, who eventually died in prison; plus how Jim has found enough forgiveness in his heart to forgive his father and now help other prison inmates to overcome their misdeeds and turn their lives around.
Leigh Ann Bryant R.N. - former emergency room nurse at Las Colinas Medical Center and domestic violence survivor
After being tied to a chair and stabbed repeatedly by her abusive husband, she was able to free herself but then had to shoot and kill her husband when he attempted to harm their baby son. After spending a year in Tarrant County jail, after a trial by a jury, she was found not guilty of murder but guilty of assault. She then fought all the way to the Texas Supreme Court to regain custody of her son...and lost. Hear the sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heartwarming stories of how she's overcome domestic violence and now has a new life...with her son now back, a new husband, plus their new young son.
Dr. Lonnie Bryant PhD - psychologist and family therapist
With a long history of counseling families from a positive, Christian perspective, Leigh Ann's husband has over 20 years of experience as a counselor and educator.
Katie Clemens - Former talk radio show co-host of "When Love Hurts," former radio DJ, mother of three boys and domestic violence survivor
When her husband of many years and the father of her three sons starting taking drugs and becoming violent, she learned all about the need for protective orders and discovered how difficult manuevering through the legal system can be for a domestic violence victim. Now remarried and living a very happy life as a broadcasting student at SMU, she's still wary of her ex-husband whom she seriously worries might still stalk or harm her if he could find her. That's why she uses her stage name, instead of her real name, most of the time.
Tracy Dodd - Legal employment service recruiting and marketing representative and domestic violence survivor
Raised in a happy family who became a popular college cheerleader, she suffered a serious blow to her self-esteem when her former husband, the college football team's quarterback, decided to divorce her to play around with other women. Consequently, while "on the rebound" she married a wealthy, young attorney and soon found herself living a life full of alcohol, drugs and violence.
After the birth of their son, with the help of her father and brother - a Dallas "Policeman of the Year"- she managed to kick the bad habits and overcome many problems associated with that lifestyle.
Al Johnson - Corporate Vice President of Marketing, U.S. Health Advisors, a division of National Health & Life Insurance Company, and child abuse survivor
Abandoned by his parents at an early age, he was raised by his grandparents but abused physically and sexually by other family members. Al is now a successful businessman,
husband and father, active in church and the community. He's largely overcome his difficult childhood but still attends professional counseling occasionally to sort things out.
J. J. Smith - Marketing and media consultant, founder of the Lillian Smith Foundation, host of talk radio show "When Love Hurts" and family violence survivor
When he was just a 10-year-old boy, her witnessed the the murder of his loving mother by his abusive father, just before his dad committed suicide. This act of terror culminated many years of abuse in their family. Now he's launching campaigns through the media and community in Dallas-Ft. Worth to eliminate family violence and assist victims...hopefully to someday stretch nationwide.
Aundrea Whalen - Re/Max real estate agent and investor, former Collin Co. 911 operator and family violence survivor
Raised in a loving, religious family, she never dreamed she would one day have to divorce and leave her husband and the father of their baby son for abuse. Because she left him, her ex-husband was so enraged that he ended his life and that of their two-year-old son, Dillon, with one gun shot in 1999.
Years later, this now highly successful realtor and real estate investor still visits Dillon's grave every week and dreams for the day she will remarry and give birth to another baby. She is a living testament that people can overcome the most difficult of circumstances, although she says she's still working at it.
Together we can end abuse!
Call us at: 214-256-4071
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COPYRIGHT 2009 Lillian Smith Family Violence Foundation. All rights reserved.
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