2009 HELP USA Domestic Violence Survivor Scholarship Awards Luncheon

11:07AM on November 01 2009

Academy Award winning actress Marcia Gay Harden and HELP USA Chair Maria Cuomo Cole will hosted the 2009 HELP USA Domestic Violence Survivor Scholarship Awards Luncheon on November 18^th at Tavern on the Green in New York City.  HELP USA honored Ken Downing (SVP & Fashion Director, Neiman Marcus), Dorothy Hamilton (Founder & CEO, French Culinary Institute), and Deborah Roberts (Correspondent, ABC) for their work to raise awareness around the issue of domestic violence.  Additionally, a special presentation paid tribute to fifteen HELP USA clients who are domestic violence survivors and were this year's scholarship recipients.

In America, domestic violence is the number one reason women and children become homeless. And HELP USA, the national Congressional model for housing and services for the homeless, is one of the leading providers of specialized emergency housing and social services for domestic violence victims in New York. 

HELP USA's annual luncheon recognizes individuals who have also fought for the survivors of domestic violence. Past award recipients include Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Yankee Manager Joe Torre, Former District Attorney Linda Fairstein, Actor Whoopi Goldberg, Entrepreneur Russell Simmons and Loreal's Candace Matthews for their various efforts to combat violence against women.

Every day, HELP serves 98 families at the HELP Haven and HELP Harbor shelters. Since an estimated 50% of women in the shelter system have experienced domestic violence, HELP USA also provides on-site support services for this specialized population at each of its other nineteen homeless shelters in the metropolitan New York area.  HELP USA manages a domestic violence community hotline in Brooklyn with services in English and Spanish, and offers specialized group counseling and employment services for families making the transition from welfare to work.