Holiday Lights of Hope

URGENT ACTION NEEDED!!! As a Child Advocacy Center (CAC), devoted to providing critical support to children and families who are victims of crime (sexual abuse,... physical abuse, witness to domestic violence, etc.) the Anna Crawford Children's Center receives financial support through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds. VOCA funds are NOT comprised of taxpayer dollars. Rather, VOCA funds come from fines and fees levied against those convicted of federal crimes and as a part of settlements in federal criminal cases. Poetically, it makes criminals pay for services to help victims of crimes! Agencies serving victims of crime then receive these funds to provide care to victims, including, crucially those most vulnerable victims. Yet now, this fund is running out because of the way it’s structured. Without your help to get action to fix VOCA, tens of thousands of kids or more could lose access to services each year. Specifically, here at the Anna Crawford Children's Center, these cuts are estimated to result in a loss of $40,000 to $80,000 per year. This significant decrease in funding WILL negatively impact the services we are able to provide to of child victims. The situation is already dire! Federal grants to victim services through VOCA decreased by 35% last year on top of a 25% decrease the previous year, and further drastic cuts are expected because the funds are running dry. Congress can fix this by ensuring federal financial penalties from deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements are treated the same way as penalties resulting from criminal convictions: that they go to serve and compensate crime victims. And that’s exactly what the VOCA Fix bill does! Please contact your senators and representative in Congress and urge their support and action. A bipartisan group of members in both houses of Congress have introduced a bill to prevent devastating cuts to federal funding for victim service programs through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), including our nation’s Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) serving victims and survivors of child abuse. With your help, we can save CACs from the 35% cut in a critical funding stream they’re currently facing, plus save the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) from insolvency. https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/voca-fix/

We still have a few items left in our lost and found during the show. One item is an earring - if you think it might be yours and you can describe, give us a call at 678-504-6388.

Thank you to everyone who attended our event this season. We loved seeing all those smiling faces (even behind the masks). We greatly appreciate your continued support as we closed out our ninth season. If you missed your opportunity, or if you still need your Christmas light fix, head north to Canton and enjoy all the lights from the comfort of your vehicle. Holiday Lights at Veterans Park runs until the end of the year. Only $20 per car. For more information, check out Holiday Lights at Veterans Park Facebook page.

This is it, can’t put it off any longer - it’s the FINAL night that we are open this season. So if you want to make sure your - Christmas Rocks, come out from 6 to 10pm tonight 12/23. See you at the park !

ONLY two nights remaining to bring the family out to the park. Don’t miss your opportunity this season. The weather is looking great, so load up the car. See you at Hobgood Park !!!

We will be closed tonight Wednesday 12/16 to allow the fields to dry from all the rain we’ve had. The radar looks good for the remainder of our show, so make your plans to visit the park. See you soon.