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Victims of Crime Fundraiser

Voices For Victims; Loud & Clear was established in 2007 as an independent agency, to evaluate and monitor how victims are treated by the criminal justice system in Santa Barbara, California. In recent years, law enforcement personnel, the courts and other public agencies have made efforts to reach out to victims of crime, explaining the process and lending support. The existence of Voices For Victims; Loud & Clear provides oversight and advocacy when the criminal justice system fails victims.

Voices For Victims; Loud & Clear, as an independent agency, will monitor and evaluate the provision of services to victims of crime and to advance policies throughout Santa Barbara that promote the fair and just treatment of victims throughout the criminal justice system.

Profits from these donations will be used to finance this year's program.  Voices For Victims operates as a non-profit organization under the laws of the State of California, and is pending classification by the IRS under section 501(c)3.

VOICES FOR VICTIMS, A Non-Profit Corporation

PO Box 23148

Santa Barbara, CA. 93121

EIN: 27-0388364

https://sites.google.com/site/voicesforvictimsnonprofit/

Email: voicesforvictims@aol.com

All donations to our agency are tax-deductible under publication 526 of the Internal Revenue Service

To help taxpayers plan their holiday-season and year-end donations, the IRS offers the following additional reminders:

• Contributions are deductible in the year made. Thus, donations charged to a credit card before the end of the year count for 2006. This is true even if the credit-card bill isn’t paid until next year. Also, checks count for 2006 as long as they are mailed this year.
• Check that the organization is qualified. Only donations to qualified organizations are tax-deductible. IRS Publication 78, available online and at many public libraries, lists most organizations that are qualified to receive deductible contributions. The searchable online version can be found on IRS.gov under, “Search for Charities.” In addition, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and government agencies are eligible to receive deductible donations, even though they often are not listed in Publication 78.
• For individuals, only taxpayers who itemize their deductions on Schedule A can claim a deduction for charitable contributions. This deduction is not available to people who choose the standard deduction, including anyone who files a short form (1040A or 1040EZ). A taxpayer will have a tax savings only if the total itemized deductions (mortgage interest, charitable contributions, state and local taxes, etc.) exceeds the standard deduction. Use the 2006 Schedule A, available now on IRS.gov, to determine whether itemizing is better than claiming the standard deduction.
• For all donations of property, including clothing and household items, get from the charity, if possible, a receipt that includes a description of the donated property. If a donation is left at a charity’s unattended drop site, keep a written record of the donation that includes a description of the property and its condition.
• The deduction for a motor vehicle, boat or airplane donated to charity is usually limited to the gross proceeds from its sale. This rule applies if the claimed value of the vehicle is more than $500. Form 1098-C, or a similar statement, must be provided to the donor by the organization and attached to the donor’s tax return. See IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, for more information.

To the attention of:

Barack Obama, US President;
Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York;
US Senators from New York: Charles E. Schumer, Kirsten E. Gillibrand;
US Representatives from New York: Ann Marie Buerkle, Anthony D. Weiner, Brian Higgins, Carolyn McCarthy, Carolyn B. Maloney, Charles B. Rangel, Christopher John Lee, Christopher P. Gibson, Edolphus Towns, Eliot L. Engel, Gary L. Ackerman, Gregory W. Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, John J. Hall, Jose E. Serrano, Joseph Crowley, Louise McIntosh Slaughter, Maurice D. Hinchey, Michael A. Arcuri, Michael G. Grimm, Nita M. Lowey, Nydia M. Velazquez, Paul Tonko, Peter T. King, Steve Israel, Timothy H. Bishop, Tom Reed, William L. Owens, Yvette D. Clarke;
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 I was told by my lawyer that if I did not press charges to the kid that tried to kill me with a hammer for being gay that I could get help from Crime Victims Board. They would pay everything that insurance would not pay. They would not help me make my kitchen wheelchair accessable, or for me to get the treatment I want because its not FDA approved. I even asked for exercise classes, and to take online classes. If I knew they only help when they feel like it I would have taken the chance and took him to court. I just want the chance to live my life before I get too old to care. Is their any hope of having a future.

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Post Open Letter to your Elected Representatives

Hello, As my nickname says, I am a single father of 3. Two teen girls 17 and 16 and a preteen boy 12. I came to this site because I am in desperate need of help. When I was younger I did some really retarded things and ended up spending 8 1/2 years in prison. When I got out I sought custody of my children after learning that the birth mother was using methamphetamine and was in a very abusive relationship. After 2 years I finally achieved my goal and was awarded custody after working my a** off getting employment, housing etc. Now my children are my life. And everything has been great until the last 4 months or so. I was attending college for computer programming and lost my federal aid due to an unknown learning disability where I could not retain the information for long periods of time. And therefore was unable to keep a C average as I would forget I had class or even to do the homework. I lost my employment due the economy and have been unable to keep up with the bills. I have had to write bad checks to pay bills and now I owe almost $2,000 to the bank. My electric bill is almost $600 and so on and so forth. Everything would've been great except that I had to pay $1,038 to get my car fixed. (Yeah they scalped me but I can't prove it). That car payment was a killer and now I am at risk of losing everything I've so hard to get. Just yesterday my car's radiator cracked so I have no transportation, it just seems like there is one f**ked up thing after another and I can't make any headway or get out of this slump. I'm about to just give up and throw it all away, but i can't do that to my children. You know they say crime is bad but they make it so damn hard to not be a criminal, it shouldn't be this hard to exist. When I was doing crime I always had money and had no needs, but now that I walk the straight and narrow, I never have cash, I am always needing something. It's all backwards. I need help. If it's just sympathy that's better than nothing. Thank You!

I created a group on Facebook called Second Chances for Former Felons. The idea behind the group is based on the belief that not everyone with a conviction on their record is a criminal. They do not regualrly steal, sell drugs, etc. The group excludes sex offenders and violent offenders.

 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131733900186001

A very real and simple (personal) example is an 18 year old young man gets in a stolen car with some friends after succumbing to peer pressure. Eventually gets pulled over and has a felony receiving stolen property conviction on his criminal record. Seventeen years later he attempts a career change and is denied the job after scoring exceptionally high on every apptitude test and does very well in three interveiws but can not be hired due to corporate policy. He is forever labeled a theif when in reality he never stole in his adult life.

The ultimate goal of the group is to introduce legislation in all 50 states and nationally that would expunge certain offenses meeting certain criteria after a set period of time with no new arrests. Some states already have an expungement process but it is very rare for adult crimes. All offer pardons but that does not eliminate the record. Just states it was pardoned.

So we are at the moment a grass roots movement looking for members. Active members are great. Non active members are welcome for support.

 The link is above. Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope to see you soon.