LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 11, 2003)—Advocates for family violence victims will use a new fund-raising stamp as the centerpiece of an event Friday aimed at building public awareness of the nature, dimensions and human costs of violence within families in Kentucky.

Louisville Postmaster Robert Lochhead will display an enlarged version of the Stop Family Violence Stamp at the event, set for noon in the Metro United Way meeting room at 334 East Broadway in Louisville. Part of the proceeds from sales of the non-denominated stamp, described by the Postal Service as a "semipostal," will go toward assisting families afflicted by domestic violence.

Stopping family violence has been a focus of the Metro United Way’s Emotionally Stable Families Community Investment Team. Marina Partee, a victim of family violence, will make brief remarks at the Friday event.

More than a dozen other local service groups that help family violence victims have also been invited to take part in the event, and the office of Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson will proclaim Friday Stop Family Violence Day.

Christopher Locke of the Metro United Way community investment department said the family-centered, mail-intense holiday season provides a prime opportunity to promote the stamp while building awareness of the often intertwined issues of spouse abuse, child abuse and neglect, rape and elder abuse.

The Stop Family Violence Stamp was unveiled in June and issued in November. The self-adhesive, non-denominated stamp sells for 45 cents, and is valid for postage at the first-class, first-ounce letter rate.

The difference between the sales price of the stamp and the underlying postage consists of a tax-deductible contribution. Once the Postal Service’s costs are deducted, funds raised through sales of the stamp will be transferred to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) in accordance with the provisions of the Stamp Out Domestic Violence Act of 2001, which was signed into law by President Bush in November 2001.

The stamp is imprinted with a child’s drawing of a distraught woman. The original intention was to photograph Monique Blais, a 6-year-old girl from Santa Barbara, Calif., erasing an image of domestic violence. During a break in the photo session, without prompting, Monique drew her own picture of what she thought best represented domestic violence—and her drawing became the basis for the stamp.

"The drawing on the stamp is a poignant reminder that children who witness family violence are profoundly affected by it," said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. "Every time you buy one of these stamps you will be supporting federal programs that help battered women and their children."

Sherry Currens, executive director of the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association (KDVA), said she expects proceeds from sales of the stamp to benefit Kentucky’s 16 domestic violence shelters, which annually house and protect more than 4,500 women and children.

"We’re pretty much maxed out" at the shelters, and are seeing "a tremendous increase" in the numbers of families in need of non-residential services. Currens said the KDVA provides non-residential services—including counseling, transportation and assistance in finding work and housing—to about 22,000 survivors of domestic violence each year.

The Center for Women and Families, based in Louisville and serving 14 counties in Kentucky and Indiana, provides emergency shelter to about 900 clients a year. The center is in the midst of renovating a motel on South Second Street, and Lynnie Meyer, the center’s president, said proceeds from the stamp sales could help support the emergency, transitional and long-term housing and other services that will be located there.

Locke said services that could benefit from the stamp sales vary widely across the nation. He said some states have taken innovative steps, such as hiring nurses at hospitals to screen patients for signs of domestic violence.

Nationally, nearly one-third of American women report physical or sexual abuse by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund, in a national survey of 6,000 families, half the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children.

In Louisville, the Community Partnership for Protecting Children’s Domestic Violence Task Force brings together domestic violence programs, law enforcement, family courts, mental health, substance abuse and child and adult protective services to victims, to provide specialized community training and to provide consultation and support to workers and families.

For more information on Friday’s event, call Lou Ann Schnur of the Metro United Way at (502) 583-2822, ext. 292.