What prompted you to want to take on a leadership position?
Last year, I approached Women In Distress to see how I could get involved. I met Nancy Leve, director of volunteer services at WID. During our initial interview she mentioned a new auxiliary that was forming; and suggested that I may be able to use some of my business background to help build the foundation for this new group. In the past year as first VP; I have developed a huge amount of respect for all members of the council. When our previous president decided to change directions, I was more than happy to accept the new role. I am excited to to work for a second year with a great group who are passionately involved in growing awareness about dating and domestic violence.

What are your goals as the president for the upcoming year?
In our upcoming year, I would like to encourage everyone who has supported PEARR in our inaugural year to rejoin as a member this July. As with any motivated group, we hope to exceed our previous goals ... in membership numbers, involvement and educating the public as to who we are and what we are doing to support Women in Distress of Broward County.

Tell me about PEARR as an organization and its partnership with Women in Distress?
PEARR is an acronym for Professionals Educating and Advocating Respect in Relationships. The original founding council felt that respect was an extremely important element in ending dating and domestic violence. If individuals are respectful of one another, there will be less of a chance for situations to escalate and get out of control.

PEARR also assists Women in Distress by organizing fundraising activities, hosting networking opportunities and developing new ideas to promote awareness in the community.

What programs does PEARR have coming up?
We have a number of ongoing projects and programs that are still evolving. We currently host a monthly book club, the Adopt A Shelter program, and are developing a book focusing on child survivors. We will be adding additional networking and social events this year; including the possibility of movie nights, wine-tasting events, etc.

What opportunities exist for someone to get involved with PEARR?
PEARR would like to encourage any level of involvement that our supporters are willing to give. We understand that life has it's challenges and that it can be difficult to give back to your community, but every little bit helps. It can be as simple as becoming a member and passing on this newsletter to increase awareness about PEARR and Women In Distress to friends and family.

We always have a need for committee members, marketing assistance, and involvement from college students. We would love to see a member approach us with an idea to help PEARR in the fundraising area. We could use assistance from local business owners who can offer locations for events. We have many opportunites for underwriting the costs of our events. Lastly, we need artists that will be willing to donate artwork to make our second annual silent art auction twice as successful as our first. For more information, I would highly encourage volunteers to visit our Web site at http://www.pearr.org/ or e-mail me directly at president@pearr.org.

FORT LAUDERDALE –– Patricia Minski has accomplished much in her lifetime. She is a wife, mother and grandmother. She has earned master’s degrees in social development and family therapy.

However, Minski said it was only last year when she finally took steps to fulfill the lifelong calling that would create a huge impact on the lives of women in her native Colombia and in South Florida.

“I knew that domestic violence was my calling,” she said. “One day, I turned 50 and I realized I was ready.”

Minski, a psychologist who has practiced family therapy for 10 years and now lives in Golden Beach, approached Women In Distress of Broward County, Inc. in early 2006. After completing the nonprofit organization’s core curriculum, she began volunteering on its crisis line, with its speaker bureau and at its shelters for women and their families who are fleeing from domestic violence.

Soon after, she was approached to join the Executive Council for Professionals Educating and Advocating Respect in Relationships, a new auxiliary for Women In Distress. She serves as PEARR’s Outreach and Education Chairperson and is currently working on PEARR’s book on the impact of domestic abuse on children by talking with survivors of domestic violence. PEARR is expecting to publish the book later in the year.

She said her work with Nancy Leve, Women In Distress’ director of volunteer services and PEARR adviser, was essential to her personal growth. “For the first time, I felt my talents were being used and greatly appreciated,” she explained.

Minski decided that those talents could also be put to good use in her homeland. So, she consulted Shelia McCann, the director of Women In Distress’ new Office of Social Change, and developed a workshop on domestic abuse that she could use in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia.

She described the community as very patriarchal, where women have fewer freedoms and opportunities for education and work than men.

Her sister in law, Diana Minski, who lives in Barranquilla, agreed.

“Machismo is the word in Spanish,” Diana said, trying to describe the society. “The man has the power. It’s a big culture-thing there; ‘The man is the king.’”

Diana is also a volunteer and she works with Sanar Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Barranquilla that provides professional and economic support, for child-cancer treatment and prevention. Sanar is the organization that Minski approached with her workshop idea.

Sanar was supportive.

So were Minski’s professional friends in Colombia, whom she tapped to help her create a Spanish-language film about domestic violence titled Ella, Un Objeto Por Amor.

“I called them and they said immediately, ‘I’ll do it,’” she recalled.
The short film was directed by movie producer Mauricio Cherkes. Minski is listed as producer.

Minski showed the film during her four-hour workshop at Sanar that was attended by a 25 women from Barranquilla’s underprivileged communities. She presented the workshop with her friend Nelly de Rodriguez, a sociologist from Bogotá, Colombia.

They gave the women the basics about domestic violence, including the definition of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, and asked if any of them had stories they wanted to share.

Eighteen of the 25 women reported being victims of violence in their homes. Some of the stories they shared were “atrocious,” Minski said. “What I did was uncover a need.”

That need was recognized by Sanar’s staff members, who contacted two nearby universities and arranged to have each one send an intern to its facilities to work with and further help the women who reported being abused. In addition, Sanar wants Minski to return for follow-up programming.

The impact of Minski’s workshop was also noticed by two other charitable organizations in Barranquilla that asked her to hold workshops for women at their facilities.

Minski is in the process of incorporating Fundacion Vientre Libre, the group she formed to produce Ella, Un Objeto Por Amor. She said the ultimate goal of her many projects is to ensure “equal rights for men and women.”

She added that she wants to raise consciousness about female oppression and create awareness that domestic violence is not OK.

“This is a cause that touches my heart deeply,” Minski said. “I feel like I have to give back.”

Minski added that she would love to see the realization of an enlightened future described by Noeleen Hayzer, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), who said, “I believe we can abolish violence against women the way we have abolished slavery.”

To contact Patricia Minski, e-mail her at outreach@pearr.org. For further information about PEARR, contact Davidson Taylor, PEARR second vice president, Marketing and Public Relations, at press@pearr.org or visit http://www.pearr.org/.