ABOUT GAINESVILLE GONE
On Thursday, October 21st, from 6:00pm-10:00pm at Valley View in Alachua, we are looking forward to gathering with friends and supporters of the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) for our 13th Annual Signature Fundraiser - Gainesville Gone New Orleans! This will be an amazing night of food, drink, live music and entertainment to celebrate the CAC and reflect on the impact the CAC has had on the thousands of abused, neglected, trafficked or traumatized children in our community over the past year. We are excited about our new theme, with a new city, and seeing you all in person, safely, once again!
Last year, due to the pandemic, we made the difficult decision to move our signature event to a virtual platform, to ensure the safety of everyone. We felt that the children deserved our very best efforts in raising funds to provide life-saving services, so we gave it everything we had! With the new format, we used creativity and stepped out of our comfort zone to produce an event that raised over $120,000. We credit the success of Gainesville Gone Memphis 2020 to you, our generous supporters!
In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, CAC therapists implemented telemental health sessions and our case management team assisted families with accessing resources through various virtual platforms. We found effective and innovative approaches to ensure that abused children continued to have their needs met, whether that be from home during the lock-down or in the pediatric emergency departments or within the CAC’s physical building. The pandemic created mounting stressors within many homes throughout our community, which resulted in the rise in the number and severity of child abuse cases. The CAC served a total of 1,895 child victims of abuse during 2020, including 58 human trafficking and 14 child pornography cases. A total of 179 forensic interviews, 3,765 therapy sessions and 17,488 advocacy and case management services were provided for children and families — all of this, right here in Alachua County.
We are committed to making Gainesville Gone New Orleans 2021 our most successful event yet! Due to the increased needs of children and families in our community, the funds provided this year will support operations and the growth required within the CAC to help more children and continue to work to meet our mission – to meet the needs of abused children in our community.
We hope you will join us on October 21st as we “travel” to a new city, New Orleans, at the stunning Valley View at Santa Fe River Ranch! We are so grateful for your support of the Child Advocacy Center through this signature fundraiser. Thank you!