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The Susan B. Anthony Project Newsletter is published twice yearly - every Spring and Fall. Our newsletter is distributed to our current supporters, friends and clients by postal mail. In addition, we post the entire newsletter here in a printer friendly format so you can download it to your computer to print and enjoy. Click here for instructions and to download our latest newsletter. In addition, there is an archive of past newsletter available for you to download to your computer. View the archive.

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 Susan B. Anthony Project Fall 2007 Newsletter

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Feature Article:
A Story of Survival and Growth

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My name is Jason Vega and I am going to tell you about my life. Let me begin with the present. I am 24 years old and one of three parts coordinators for a multi-billion-dollar corporation; a proud father of a beautiful baby girl named Isabella; a loving boyfriend to my fiancée Shelley, and, last but not least, a United States Marine currently serving my country under the inactive reserve program.


All this may sound pleasant, but let me tell you a different story. It involves drug and alcohol abuse as well as physical and mental abuse. This is a true story about my life, and it begins as far back as I can
remember.

The early years… the difficult years


We were living in New Britain, Connecticut,
I don’t quite remember where or when, but I do remember what happened in that house, I was seven years old. I remember

FALL 2007
Newsletter Contents


October is Domestic Violence
Awareness Month

Tea for Two Hundred raised

over $106,000!

Making A Difference

First Endowment Fund Established!

Agency News and Notes

Programs and Services

Wish List

both of my parents in such a state that neither one of them was sober enough to take care of me or my older brother.

I remember watching my father pummel my mother so badly that she thought she could only find safety hiding behind the bottom of an empty glass or bottle.

This continued on for years until somehow my mother found it in herself to take a stand and fight for her life. Leaving the only man she had ever known, my mother left her abuser and took her two small children with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a small box of memories to start a new life where nothing bad could ever happen.

This is the point in my life where I was introduced to one of the things that has saved my family: the Susan B. Anthony Project.


My mother moved us into the battered women’s shelter here she was surrounded with women who had made the same choice she did in leaving their attackers and trying to start a new life.

This is where my first good memory appeared. It was Christmas and I remember wanting the brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action figure set- what can I say? I’m an ’80s baby. I remember running downstairs and seeing the tree and diving head first into a pile of presents that would make a rich kid jealous.

I remember thinking to myself that none of this would have happened if it weren’t for an agency like the Susan B. Anthony Project to help and support battered women and give them a new start. The Susan B. Anthony project not only gives women a fresh start but it helps them through the startup to their new lives.

New beginnings and hope


We had made it through the first part of our new beginning. Things began to get easier.
My mother had gotten clean and was actively going to meetings in order to keep
her mind on track and maintaining her sobriety.

We had moved from the shelter to the Susan B. Anthony Project Transitional House. This time there were more children who my brother and I could interact with and know that they would not look at us poorly because we came from a broken home.

The one family we interacted with in the house the most is still part of our lives today. We have a wonderful relationship because we never judged one another. My mother was able to begin a new job and begin saving money to support our family. After a few years of saving we were on our way, but never too far from Susan B.


A home of our own


We moved again into yet another house, but this house was almost exactly in between our two previous homes. I never realized this until now. Looking back I wonder if this was the halfway mark or was this the path to the finish line? I don’t think it was either because I know that I will never be done with Susan B.


The Susan B Anthony Project saved our lives. It initially gave us freedom and hope, it gave us a new beginning. It helped us get back on our feet, as it has helped hundreds of other families. The year was 1997. My mother was so well off due to Susan B. that she was able to purchase her own home. What I am trying to say is that my mother has helped me as much as she possibly could but has also instilled in me great morals and a sense of responsibility.


I left my mother for boot camp on July 29, 2002. Four years seven months and fifteen
days later, here I am. And I could not have done it without the help of the Susan B. Anthony Project.


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