Over 42,000
            Central New Yorkers
                participated in the
                Vera House
                Foundation
            White Ribbon
                 Campaign!

       Learn more
       about this year's
       record-breaking efforts . . .

-listen to the 2007 radio PSA - our special thanks to Clear Channel Communications

-watch the 2007 TV message - our special thanks to Time Warner Cable

-hear the inspiring song: "ENOUGH ALREADY"

-2007 High School Challenge Winners!

living examples

real life stories of how
walking the talk
can make REAL change
 

"Messages that make you think . . .

My name is Dave Bellso, and I am the president at Designworks Advertising. When Vera House approached us with a special request to work on their White Ribbon campaign, the employees at the agency couldn’t say yes fast enough. In light of what had gone on in our community in the last year, we saw this as an opportunity to make a difference.

Now, we all know that in a close-knit office community, the vernacular can become less than professional, at times.  But after embarking on this project, and working closely with the Vera House staff, we came to realize the campaign goals and the potential to impact to others.

I noticed that throughout the office there was a new awareness for what was said, and more importantly how it was said. We have now experienced firsthand how effective the White Ribbon campaign is. Designworks Advertising strives to convey respect for our fellow team members, and we hope others will do the same.  Our suggestion would be to hang up the campaign posters in your office and watch the change for yourself. "

“When I had been married for about six months, my wife and I had our first real, heated argument. At one point in the argument my wife needed some space and time to think about what we were disagreeing on, so she got up to leave the room. In my frustration in wanting to resolve the problem I blocked her from leaving the room, using my physical presence in a way that restricted her freedom. Looking back on the situation, I shamefully realize that what I really wanted from my wife in that moment of desperation was not to simply exert force against her. Fundamentally what I wanted was a sense of closeness and connection with her again.  Because of my emotional immaturity, the only resource I felt I had left to draw on was my physical presence to keep my wife present with me.

I have now been married for almost nine years. My wife and I have a wonderful relationship (by both our reports) and I have not treated her with such disrespect since. I believe this change occurred in me over a long period of time because of two reasons: 1) My actions during that argument scared me and I never want to experience that again, and 2) I have had some great mentors along the way who have taught me what it means to be a real man.

Some of the most significant lessons have come in the form of challenges to the way I have learned to view women in society and by mistruths I have learned about what it means to be a man. Some of the truths I have learned in my continuing growth are that being a man means . . .

◊ treating women with respect, dignity and courtesy
◊ learning to listen
◊ to admit my faults and sincerely apologize
◊ to challenge in myself and others disrespectful and degrading messages about women that are perpetuated in society
◊ humility to receive feedback and make personal changes
◊ to seek out information on how to have a good relationship
◊ honoring my family commitments as a husband and father
◊ comparative goodness does not excuse me from the need to continue challenging myself

I have learned that being a real man means standing up for womanhood and motherhood.”

Aaron Jeffrey
Vera House, Inc., ECHO Therapist  .  Husband & Father of 4

“This true story, related by D. Todd Christofferson, is something that helped me to understand what it means to be a real man -

Years ago, when my brothers and I were boys, our mother had radical cancer surgery. She came very close to death. Much of the tissue in her neck and shoulder had to be removed, and for a long time it was very painful for her to use her right arm.

One morning about a year after the surgery, my father took Mother to an appliance store and asked the manager to show her how to use a machine he had for ironing clothes. The machine was called an Ironrite. It was operated from a chair by pressing pedals with one's knees to lower a padded roller against a heated metal surface and turn the roller, feeding in shirts, pants, dresses and other articles. You can see that this would make ironing (of which there was a great deal in our family of five boys) much easier, especially for a woman with limited use of her arm. Mother was shocked when Dad told the manager they would buy the machine and then paid cash for it. Despite my father's good income as a veterinarian, Mother's surgery and medications had left them in a difficult financial situation.

On the way home, my mother was upset: 'How can we afford it? Where did the money come from? How will we get along now?' Finally Dad told her that he had gone without lunches for nearly a year to save enough money. 'Now when you iron,' he said, 'you won't have to stop and go into the bedroom and cry until the pain in your arm stops.' She didn't know he knew about that.

I was not aware of my father's sacrifice and act of love for my mother at the time, but now that I know, I say to myself: There is a man."

Jonathan Sandberg
Syracuse University Marriage & Family Therapy Program Department Chair

2007 White Ribbon Campaign High School Challenge

Each year, high school students from the Syracuse City Schools and
Syracuse-area suburbs, compete to win a dance party for their school
(complete with DJ & refreshments) by selling white ribbons and wristbands.

The 2007 winners in the City School Division
are the students of Nottingham High School!

Pictured here from left to right are the top three White Ribbon sellers:
Quent Taylor (sold 31 wristbands), Darlene Clark (sold 42 wristbands)
Jelea Allen (sold 61 wristbands) and their Health Teacher, Lucia Ashley

Our congratulations & thanks to these enthusiastic young people
for their support of the White Ribbon Campaign.
 

Kinney Drugs Foundation

Partners Trust Bank

Time Warner Cable
 

Byrne Dairy

Welch Allyn Employees
Gifting Team

Cadaret Grant, Inc.

Crouse Hospital

McDonalds of Dewitt

Hancock & Estabrook, LLP

Wegmans

Carol Weiss

The '07 campaign would not be possible
without the talents & services
of these generous inkind donors . . .

Clear Channel
Communications

Designworks
Advertising, Inc.

linda e productions

Time Warner Cable

Upstate Printing, Inc.