In anticipation of Pillars of Change on June 11th, we are highlighting Sanctuary Volunteers who will be honored at the volunteer recognition event! Learn More and Register for Pillars of Change.
In 2014, April Wilson was introduced to Sanctuary for Families through Mary Ann Mailman, one of Sanctuary for Families’ earliest Board members, a beloved Board President, and overall agency supporter for over 30 years.
April worked as a television producer and editor and was encouraged by Mary Ann to share her incredible talents with Sanctuary for Families.
April has always been an advocate for women’s rights, previously volunteering at a women’s shelter in college. Due to her interests and former volunteer position, she felt a close connection with Sanctuary and was especially inspired by Sanctuary’s wrap-around service model to give back.
Every spring, our Annual Benefit is our largest fundraising event and this year our goal is to raise $2.2 million to support Sanctuary’s programs and services for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence.
April has become an invaluable volunteer to Sanctuary’s Development Team through volunteering her time and skills to create the agency’s Annual Fundraising video since 2014. For the past five years, April has given over 80 hours each year shooting, editing, revising, tweaking, mixing, and outputting the annual video. It is an incredible amount of work and we are so grateful for April’s support and expertise. She volunteers an amazing amount of time and energy all while balancing a full-time job and a family. April always amazes the staff she works with by continually trying to brainstorm ways to improve her work to find the best and most impactful way to showcase the agency and the courageous journeys of the clients we support.
Sanctuary’s Director of Individual Giving and Special Events, Amy Abramson, shares:
“I was immediately drawn to her kindness, openness, and interest in sharing our clients’ stories with the world.”
Amy goes on to say, “April’s support and expertise have offered Sanctuary the ability to get our message out into the world by providing a means for clients to share their stories in a safe, welcoming environment. She is deeply sensitive to our clients’ needs throughout every step in the process, and her work puts Sanctuary and our clients in the best possible light when we are sharing their stories with the world. She is interested in the many issues involved in Sanctuary’s work and is always looking for more information about our services to share them with her own family and community. As an example, recently, April held a small ‘salon’ with her family and friends in her hometown in Texas to talk about these issues, bringing materials and information that she learned from her time working with Sanctuary. In short, we could not do what we do at our events and beyond without April’s priceless help.”
Pillars of Change is an opportunity to honor extraordinary volunteers like April who bring skills, experience, and passion to our staff and hope and opportunity to our clients.
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We hope you will join us at Pillars of Change on June 11th, 2019 to recognize April and all of our volunteers for their dedicated service. Please RSVP for Pillars of Change today!