Tag Archives: ASTOP

Providing Hope for Victims

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Monday Morning

We had 18 members and our guest speaker, Courtney Kolb, from ASTOP at our Monday meeting…  A “Happy Buck” was offered by Gary Miller just because he was happy and it wasn’t drug induced.  Vickie Goldapske was the 50/50 Raffle drawing winner on Monday and she drew a non-winning Eight of Diamonds.  Next week’s drawing will have 32 cards with five pay cards and a pot of at least $249.

Courtney Kolb, ASTOP

ASTOP Sexual Abuse Center serves individuals, families and communities and helps them heal from the trauma of sexual assault in the Fond du Lac and Green Lake communities.

ASTOP’s Mission is a sexual assault service provider offering treatment, outreach, prevention, and advocacy, emphasizing hope and connection to self and others.

It is estimated one in four women and one in six men are sexually abused before their eighteenth birthday; the average age of abuse for a female is 13 – 17 years old and 4 years old for a male.

Although these numbers are shocking, ASTOP assists survivors of sexual abuse to break through the negative consequences their abuse can have.  They offer HOPE, HEALING, and WHOLENESS for victims and families through trained, professional staff and caring volunteer support.

Courtney has been with ASTOP for about two years and has just moved into a Case Manager role from her previous Prevention Educator Role.

ASTOP and ARC Present at Kiwanis

Monday Morning
We had 18 members along with our guest speaker, David Boelter from ARC and guest, Mitch Loomans at Monday’s morning. Bob Kahl had a “Happy Buck” in celebration of the first official dinner at the new Trinity Restaurant held last Saturday. Gary Miller offered up an “Honor Buck” in recognition of Dave Twohig’s assistance with the Friends of Taylor Park Pool Brat Fry on June 20th. Dave selected a flashlight from the Kiwanis Grab Bag. The 50/50 Raffle winner was Bonnie Baerwald. Bonnie drew the Ace of Diamonds. Not a winner but that’s one less card in the deck for next week. Next week’s drawing will only have 37 cards in the deck with seven pay cards and a pot of over $385.

Fond du Lac ASTOP, Linda Selk-Yerges – July 2, 2012
Linda has been the Director of ASTOP since its inception in 1992. ASTOP is a Sexual Assault Service Provider offering treatment, outreach, prevention, and advocacy, emphasizing hope and connection to self and others. ASTOP provides a link between crisis and recovery. The trained professional staff offers supportive ser-ices to survivors of sexual abuse, rape, or incest as well as other family members. Serving the greater Fond du Lac, Ripon, and Green Lake communities, ASTOP is a 501c (3) nonprofit organization established to assist survivors with treatment, provide outreach services that create awareness of the impact of sexual abuse, and reduce the incidence through prevention education programs. ASTOP offers emotional security, comfort, and safety for those affected by sexual assault through direct services and medical/legal advocacy at no cost to individuals and affected family members. They assist children six and older, adolescents, and adults. Linda provided us a number of sobering statistics regarding sexual assaults, such as the fact that only one out of ten sexual abuse cases are actually reported. Excellent program albeit scary.

Fond du Lac ARC, David Boelter – July 9, 2012
Dave Boelter is the current Executive Director of the Fond du Lac ARC. Dave is a native of North Fond du Lac and was a member of the ARC Board when he was appointed Executive Director about two years ago. He thanked our Club, along with the other two Fond du Lac Kiwanis Clubs for the recent repainting of the exterior of their offices on North Park Street. It took 110 gallons of paint and it looks wonderful.
The purposes of The Arc of Fond du Lac, Inc., as stated in the bylaws of the organization, are:

  • To promote the general welfare of the developmentally disabled.
  • To foster the development of programs on their behalf.
  • To encourage research related to all disabilities.
  • To advise and aid parents and guardians in the solution of their problems.
  • To provide advocacy services for persons with disabilities and their families. To develop a better understanding by the public of the problems encountered by individuals with disabilities.
  • To cooperate and collaborate with all public, private, and religious agencies, and professional groups in the furtherance of those ends.
  • To have the option to cooperate with and assist The Arc of Wisconsin Disability Association and The Arc U.S.
  • To serve as a local resource for information.