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Join us for our 10th Annual Walk A Mile For A Safe Place on Saturday, April 6!
Supporting our mission by joining this family friendly one mile walk allows us to raise awareness and funding for our programs and services that create direct impact right here on Nantucket.
At this year’s event, we will be celebrating our former Board of Directors President (2019-2023), Linda Hoey, who recently passed away. Linda served eleven big-hearted years within A Safe Place’s mission, and we will be honoring her via the yearly event that she most loved to bring to life.
It truly does take a village to create change. We hope that you will join us in being part of that change on April 6!
Remembering Linda
“She was our biggest Advocate and so often wrote (or called) to give praise for events, e-newsletters, and so forth. I will miss her in many ways.” Jennifer Frazee, Director ASP.
When Linda Hoey retired as board president of A Safe Place in June 2023, her colleagues were not reticent in handing her the compliments they had watched her earn. They said she was a real leader with a big heart, that she was honest and authentic, that she was a no-nonsense person. As Jane Loose, current president of A Safe Place, tells it, “Linda had a willingness to open herself up to a situation and be imperfect and not be embarrassed or apologetic. I loved that about her.”
Colleagues say that Linda liked to work behind the scenes without attention. Nancy Pittman, who recruited Linda to the ASP Board in 2011, says of Linda, “She was humble but also confident and competent. She knew the real work was done by the staff, and she really believed in them.” Jane Carlin, Board President before Linda, says “Linda did not like attention. She was never idle, always taking care of all the details.” One quiet act the staff noticed was Linda’s continual tending to plants at the office, often keeping them alive single-handedly.
She was bursting with ideas for A Safe Place and at the same time demanding about each step that was taken. When Nancy Pittman recruited her to the board, she already knew Linda to be a person who if she said she would do something, did it. “She would do anything asked of her,” Pittman said. “She was smart and committed and she followed through.”
Two of Linda’s passions were prevention education and community outreach. If A Safe Place held a fundraiser, Jennifer Frazee, ASP Director says “Linda made sure there was a free event open to the whole community held in conjunction with the fundraiser.” “She wanted to reach the public with our mission,” says Carlin.
Linda enthusiastically took on the “Walk A Mile” campaign to raise awareness of violence against women. In its early days, “Walk A Mile (in her shoes)” was a men’s walk in women’s shoes, often high heels. Colleagues remember Linda’s husband, Peter, teetering in high heels on those marches, citing this as an example of his support for the work she did.
Board members past and present say Linda took A Safe Place to a new level. She brought people into the organization who understood her passionate commitment to the mission and who trusted her. Jane Loose who was recruited to the board by Linda says, “I could tell ASP was very important to her. She was very knowledgeable about it. She stayed focused on the mission. The survivors (of sexual assault and domestic violence) were her priority.” Jane Carlin agrees. “She was so interested in the cause and so ready to jump in and do whatever was needed.”
Like all those who shared stories of Linda, Jennifer Frazee described her as an exceptionally caring and supportive person. “Linda always passed on any good feedback about me or about the staff. She would check in with me not only professionally, but personally. She had that excellent listening ear.” Jane Loose describes being recruited to the board. “I had never been on a board before of any kind, I didn’t have an inclination to do that. I had poured myself into education. She convinced me that I had something of value to contribute to the board. She listened to me; she empowered me.” Frazee says, “Linda was set apart by her caring. When my family was grieving the loss of a loved one, Linda made chicken noodle soup and delivered it to us.”
Everyone knew that family came first for Linda. She and Peter had recently put their home on the market to move from Nantucket to California where they would be close to their grandchildren. The shock of her death so soon after that move has left the staff and board of A Safe Place in sadness and yet has brought up so many good memories of the work Linda did in this community. As Jane Loose expressed it, “We all knew that family came first, but A Safe Place was a close second.”
Ambassador For Change Patron Sponsor: Lisa Dawson
O’Connor Custom Builders, Nantucket County Sheriff Department, Fisher Real Estate, Marine Home Center & White Elephant Resorts
Shining Star Patron Sponsors: Loose Ends and Ivy & Fran Scricco
Cape Cod Five Foundation
Island Energy Services
Novation Media
Sandbar at Jetties Beach Bar & Restaurant
Billy Voss Events Nantucket
Brant Point Building and Property Management
Cohen & Cohen Law PC
CORE
Hatch’s Package Store
Hehir Group Custom Builders
Hingham Institution for Savings
Island Kitchen Catering & Events
Island Kitchen Restaurant
J. Pepper Frazier Real Estate
Kitty Murtagh’s
Madaket Marine
Nomad
Sea Breeze Cleaning
The Law Office of David J. Buckley
Town Restaurant
Queequeg’s
Marcia & Stephen Anderson
Katherine Grover & Michael Campbell
Sheila Daume
Peter Hoey
Jacqueline & Richard Meisenberg
Kay Sheehan
Paula & Bernie Swain
There is no excuse and never an invitation to rape.
“Since 1999, Peace Over Violence has run an inspiring and powerful opportunity to practice solidarity and support survivors by renewing our commitment to exposing harmful behaviors and attitudes surrounding sexual violence.
Denim Day is a campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim.
Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, what started as a local campaign to bring awareness to victim blaming and destructive myths that surround sexual violence has grown into a movement.
As the longest running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history, Denim Day asks community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual violence.”
-denimday.org
Join us this month for local events promoting awareness through creativity!
Wednesday, April 3 through Friday, April 5: Safe Home Art Project
Members of the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club will be participating in A Safe Place’s Annual Safe Home Project. Participants will be given a range of art supplies to create a home that’s safe. They will work as a team or individually, while learning about non-violence through building their projects with support from staff.
The Safe Home Art Project is intended to teach healthy relationships and respect for others with the use of artistic models. The project takes place over 3 days, culminating with each member sharing what makes their home safe.
For more information, please reach out to frejae@asafeplacenantucket.org.
Saturday, April 6: 10th Annual Walk A Mile For A Safe PlaceJoin us for A Safe Place Walk A Mile. Help raise awareness and funding for our domestic violence and sexual assault survivor programs and services here on Nantucket. This family friendly walk begins and ends at Children’s Beach. Start time is 10:00 AM.
Tuesday, April 16: Rock Painting at Cisco Brewery
A Safe Place, in collaboration with Cisco Brewers, will be hosting an afternoon of rock painting from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Cisco Brewery. Patrons will create decorative rocks with uplifting messages and inspirational quotes that will be shared with survivors.
Wednesday, April 24: Denim Day
Join millions of people across the world in supporting survivors of sexual assault and educating about sexual violence. We encourage you to tag us on social media wearing denim and or send photos to rachel@asafeplacenantucket.org.
Saturday, April 27: Clothesline Project
Stop by the Nantucket Atheneum garden for A Safe Place’s Clothesline Project display from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
The Clothesline Project is a visual display of shirts created by local survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence (or those who have lost a loved one to violence).
The project brings awareness to the often-ignored issues of sexual assault and domestic violence, while giving survivors an opportunity to send a strong message within our community that sexual assault and domestic violence do happen here.
Please join A Safe Place in raising awareness within our community and celebrating the strength of our local survivors.
*Please Note: This event is weather dependent.
Tuesday, April 30: Safety Cape Project
Nantucket Boys & Girls Club members will participate in A Safe Place’s Safety Cape Project where they will create their own superhero capes using imagination, out of the box thinking, and creativity while learning about safety and surroundings.
Stan is Certified Life Coach, a Reiki therapist, and a mentor who loves animals and is passionate about helping people. He sees himself as a human first and foremost and believes that everyone deserves to live a free and happy life. Originally from Bulgaria, Stan moved to Nantucket in 2018 to start a new chapter in his life after spending 18 years as the editor-in-chief of Hello! Magazine. He’s often seen walking around town or on the beach with a big smile and a positive attitude. Stan is a good listener and loves to talk, but he also believes that we always have a choice in life and should never hold ourselves back from making positive changes.
A Safe Place is pleased to welcome Stan to our team as our newest advocate serving the Nantucket community.
On Saturday, March 30, A Safe Place in collaboration with Source Hub, and the Nantucket Family Resource Center hosted a Resource Madness event at the Nantucket Intermediate School. This event was open to individuals and families alike. On and off island organizations were on hand to provide free resources and services to the community. Thank you to everyone who made this event a success!
As part of our prevention education programming for Nantucket youth, A Safe Place advocates Suzanne Fronzuto and Kathy Butterworth recently met with students in grades 3-5 at the Nantucket Lighthouse School to talk about healthy relationships. Respecting another’s boundaries, addressing and responding to peer pressure, and standing up for friends who are being pressured were all topics covered while students worked through a series of age appropriate skill building exercises designed to help students understand and create healthy personal boundaries and relationships.
A Safe Place’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program Manager, Frejae Burrows, recently finished up a winter session of prevention education at Nantucket High School. Students in grades 11 and 12 discussed the characteristics of healthy vs unhealthy relationships, broke down behaviors within power and control, and learned more about consent and sexual assault. A smaller portion of A Safe Place’s Clothesline Project was displayed for students to visually connect with pieces of local survivors’ stories. The Clothesline Project will be displayed in full at the Nantucket Atheneum on Saturday, April 27 of Daffodil Festival Weekend from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Frejae will be back at Nantucket High School later this spring, working with grade nine students for prevention education.
A Safe Place Bilingual Advocates, Adaluz Paz, Tania Pereira, and Marta Saravia, have been hosting prevention and education group sessions for Spanish speaking members of our Nantucket community who are looking to learn more about domestic violence and sexual assault as well as how to create change. For more information on these ongoing group sessions, please reach out to adaluz@asafeplacenantucket.org.
Keynote Speaker Katie Koestner
Learn more about Katie Koestner here.
Our survivor needs pantry at A Safe Place is currently in immediate need of both personal care and food items. If you are looking for additional ways to help local survivors and our mission within the Nantucket community, please consider picking up an item or two for donation. We are always grateful for these kinds of donations.
Personal care items (toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, feminine products, diapers, baby wipes, etc.) as well as non perishable food items (pasta, rice, beans, canned vegetables, cereal, apple sauce, juice boxes, condiments, etc.) can be dropped off at the following island locations:
- A Safe Place (5B Windy Way)
- Stop & Shop (Mid island location at 31 Sparks Avenue)
- Dan’s Pharmacy (110 Pleasant Street)
We can also pick up if you give us a call at 508.228.0561.
Looking to order from Amazon? Check out our Amazon Wish List here.
