While millions were inside riveted to the Super Bowl, on which day there is reportedly the most domestic violence all year, 500 women and men (including this penguin) all over the “Frozen Tundra” I affectionately call Maine got cold to bring warmth to domestic abuse survivors, raising $8,000.00 for Finding Our Voices.
Finding Our Voices was founded by Patrisha McLean in 2016 when she made headlines with the arrest of her celebrity husband, “American Pie” famed Don McLean, on domestic violence charges. Sharing her story publicly was risky because of the celebrity status of her musician husband but she found countless women in her small community in Maine revealed to her that they too had been terrorized by an intimate partner, with some saying, “I always wanted to tell my story.”
I was one of the Nordic Polar Bears in my banana Marvel outfit (Patrisha loves yellow) and joined the “WICKED NIPPY DIPPAH’s” group that meets regularly for nippy dips. Powered by love and outrage, Finding Our Voices is a grassroots and survivor-powered nonprofit breaking the silence and cycle of domestic abuse all across Maine bringing safety and freedom to women and children, and marshaling survivor voices toward more rights, services and justice for victims of domestic violence.
