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Who Takes Care of the Victims of the Current Crime Wave? By Kate M. Harper, Esq., President, Montgomery Bar Foundation
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hether you hear it on KYW, watch it on the 11 o’clock TV news, or see it flash across your screens without warning, reports of crime, murder, assault, and rape are numbingly familiar these days and the faces and names of the victims often get blurred in our memories as the depressing statistics mount. Once the cameras have moved on, who takes care of the victims and their families? And who will console those who love the victims and those who experienced the trauma alongside them?
Executive Director Mary Onama puts it this way: “VSC’s advocacy services are a safety net for residents of Montgomery County who need access to justice especially during traumatic times in their lives. This may be when they need to file for protection orders, attend court hearings for trials, go to interviews with law enforcement or to the hospital for Forensic rape kit exams. We appreciate the grant funds from the Montgomery County Bar Foundation that help to fund our access to justice advocacy services.”
You are the ones who take care of these victims if you are a regular contributor to the Montgomery Bar Foundation (MBF)! The MBF is the charitable arm of the Montgomery Bar Association, and your generous contributions provide annual grants to the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County which provides free and confidential support and services to crime victims and their loved ones.
The MBF supports nonprofits that help advance the cause of justice in Montgomery County, and the Victim Services Center certainly does this. When you give to the Foundation, it’s a tax deductible contribution, and your money goes straight to nonprofits like the Victim Services Center, as well as Legal Aid of Southeastern PA, the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project, Your Way Home, ACLAMO, Laurel House, Mission Kids, the Women’s Center of Montgomery County, the Senior Law Center, and many other organization that help make Montgomery County a better and more just society.
The Victims Services Center has a free, 24/7 hotline at 1-888521-0983 to connect crime victims to confidential counseling to help deal with the aftermath of having been a victim of crime. Founded in 1974 as Women Against Rape, Victim Services provides counseling and advocacy for people affected by sexual violence and other crimes against the person to help the victims cope with the trauma they have been through and to begin to heal. “I was scared and emotionally in crisis at the court house when I went to apply for an order of protection from sexual violence,” says one. “Having my victim advocate by my side to support me helped me to cope and gave me courage to file the petition.” Longtime Victims Services Center Executive Director Mary Onama, LMSW, heads Montgomery County’s comprehensive victim services agency and also advocates in Montgomery County and across the state of Pennsylvania for survivors of rape and crime so that the needs of the victims are recognized, acknowledged, and prioritized in our criminal justice system. At the Victim Services Center, women and men are believed, and then healed from becoming victims—a fate they never sought or expected. Trained victim advocates, bilingual if needed, support the 24hour hotline and help crime survivors deal with isolation, anxiety, uncertainty, depression, and grief. Most importantly, they reassure the crime victims that they are not alone, and that someone cares for them and about them, in order to help the victim to heal. 14 SIDEBAR
There are several ways to give. MBF Fellows give, and promise to give, regular annual contributions, and they truly are the sustaining members of the Foundation. Young lawyers (and not so young, of course) can set up smaller, monthly donations online by visiting the Foundation webpage on the MBA website. We will be having our annual Montgomery Bar Foundation Legal Aid golf outing on Monday, June 26, 2023. Save the date now and MBF Events and Fundraising Committee Chair Paul Mullin, Esq., will announce the details later. We, your fellow lawyers on the MBF Board, are grateful for your support and the greater Montgomery County community is grateful that lawyers are giving back. Most MBF Grant recipients do important work that is not easily understood by the general public unless they find themselves in a tough situation they never expected. Of course, many of these organizations also rely on the lawyers on their boards, and that time and expertise is a wonderful contribution, too. Thank you. Please check out the Foundation webpage on the MBA website and work with us to help us help the organizations that promote justice in our local community.