05
To Connect Take A Moment
As Friends and Volunteers
Pam I was invited to go to a VIP. I had no idea if that’s what I wanted to do but was told to just “come and observe”. So, I did and there were several speakers, but I was most drawn to Natalie because her message had emotion and anger, feelings that I was experiencing privately. Inwardly, I thought, “Yes, I can do this” and was accepted as a volunteer speaker. Every time I participated; the only thing I could do was read my victim impact statement. I kept saying to myself, “You gotta learn to speak from your heart.” I wanted to get over the anxiety of sharing my personal story with strangers. Eventually, I moved into being able to do that and, somedays, there was a little more anger in my voice than there were other times. There were times when I would just break down completely and Natalie was always there to give me a hug. I heard that MADD wanted to do a walk in Pittsburgh and I said, “We can do this—I can do this.” I realized I could not do the walk alone so I recruited Natalie to be Co-chair. Originally, she said, “Well, I’ll just stay in the background and support you.” Well, it didn’t take long before we both realized there was way too much work for one person and we have been side by side ever since.
Natalie
We never did anything like this before and with little guidance. The first year went well. So, we don’t know how, but we survived this.
Pam
We have said, off and on throughout the years, that, “We are not going to do the walk again next year—it’s a lot of work”, but then, you know, we both stood there and watched these people walk up the hill. We were drawn to this emotion of watching these people do this walk and we kind of looked at each other and said, “I guess we can do this next year.” So, it has been, “I guess we can do this next year” for the last ten years.
“ ... Victims and survivors don’t have to be alone during these challenging times. ”
MADDvocate ®
22
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