(Green Bay, Wis) – The Sexual Assault Center of Family Services is excited to announce the final results of its fundraising efforts during Give BIG Green Bay 2022!

During the 24 hours that Give BIG was held, 256 donors gave directly to the Sexual Assault Center to raise $67,965. In addition to those donations, the center will also receive an additional $11,522 in matching funds from Green Bay Packers Give Back and other matching contributors in the community. That’s a total of $79,039 raised to support free, confidential services for survivors of sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse and sex trafficking in Northeast Wisconsin!

Sexual Assault Center staff say the level of support received during Give BIG Green Bay caught the attention of survivors they serve.

“We are extremely grateful for not only the amount that was raised for the Sexual Assault Center, but for the number of people in our community who chose to support us,” said Holli Fisher, Sexual Assault Center Program Manager. “One survivor went onto our Give BIG page and seeing the number of donors who cared about sexual violence helped her to not feel so alone.”

The Sexual Assault Center set an original goal to raise $60,000 during the event. The amount represented half of what is expected to be cut from the center’s funding through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) later this year.

“We are so grateful for the opportunity to be more than half way to our goal of the $120,000 needed to keep our services whole later this year when we will experience a 15% cut to our largest grant,” said Tana Koss, Vice President of Programming.

Koss says there are two major reasons why filling the anticipated gap is so critical.

“We already operate the leanest team possible to meet the needs of our communities 24/7 in terms of crisis response. There are no cuts that can be made without leaving large gaps in critical services. And secondly, we have already been informed that the following year we will experience an additional 15% cut in this same funding. We need the community’s support and involvement to ensure we can continue to provide 24/7 response to our community members who have experienced sexual abuse or assault.”

The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, in partnership with Green Bay Packers Give Back, selects 45 nonprofits to take part in Give BIG Green Bay each year, to help unite the community around causes and issues to make a real difference. Its 2022 effort raised a grand total of $2.4 million with over 4,300 donors contributing to their favorite nonprofits.

Anyone can support the Sexual Assault Center of Family Services at any time. To volunteer as an advocate or make a donation, please visit www.familyservicesnew.org/get-involved.