Heart of Horse Sense awarded federal VOCA grant

We are so excited to announce that we have, officially, been awarded a grant through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which is a federal program that aims to address issues of sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking, amongst other crimes.

This funding, along with the support of our donors, will allow us to expand our programming to a level we have been striving towards for many years! We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve and heal survivors.

Over the next two years we will be able to dramatically increase how many lives we touch. We are honored to now offer Onsite Immersions, Group Therapy and Individual Therapy for survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault of all ages.

We will continue to support our Veterans, First Responders and their families while simultaneously expanding our youth programming to offer more children's groups and see more individual youth clients, many of whom are survivors of suspected neglect and abuse.

Why This Matters In the United States, on average, every two minutes, a child is bought or sold for sex. The average age of a child sold for sex is 13 years old. (Restore Corps)

• Approximately 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men are survivors of sexual violence at some point in their lifetime, and over a third of survivors experience assault before the age of 18. (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey)

• Additionally, race, gender and sexual orientation can skew a person's likelihood to report an incident of sexual violence. It is estimated that for every one African American woman who reports being assaulted, there are at least 15 who do not. (End Rape on Campus)

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (National Domestic Violence Hotline)

• According to the National Coalition on Domestic Violence, 43.9% of North Carolina women and 19.3% of North Carolina men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes.

How You Can Help: Truly, these survivors have Resilient Hearts, and more support is needed. While this is no doubt a game-changing grant, it is a "reimburse-able" grant, meaning we provide the service, invoice, and then get paid (and we need to be able to pay our staff and the light bill until that reimbursement comes in)! Hence our reserve campaign: and we are almost half-way there! Our goal for this Resilient Hearts Campaign is $85,000! Donate today by texting "HORSE" to 243-725 or by visiting our website. You may also mail a check, made out to Heart of Horse Sense, to 7041 Meadows Town Rd, Marshall NC, 28753