Friends, the time for the 2023 United Church of Christ’s General Synod in Indianapolis, Indiana grows near. We will be in Indianapolis from June 29th through July 4th (not counting some travel time).

We have registered our team (Moira & Lella), and reserved our exhibit all space. The spaces are 10′ x 10′ and together we decided that it would feel crowded to put all the things for both Break The Silence Sunday (BTSS) ~ the advocacy portion of the work that provides liturgy and support to congregations and communities standing strong in supporting survivors and speaking out against sexual violence in our communities ~ and Strings of Strength (SOS) ~ the support work that listens to survivors, hearing their stories and experiences (to date 1402 survivors have shared their stories with our team since the beginning of BTSS in September 2015).

So we have reserved two adjacent/joined spaces and now have 20′ (wide) x 10′ (deep) which will allow us to create a nurturing sharing space for survivors and advocates to sit, breathe amid the glorious chaos that is Synod, and have a chat. Hopefully it will also be a space where survivors feel comfortable sharing their stories with our team. Our space will also need some “swag” ~ things to give to folks who come by the booth (we’re working on stickers because they’re all the rage right now, and we’ve got buttons!), and we want some treats (candy), and need to dress up our space so it’s an inviting and attractive place to stop, learn & share.

All of this, of course, costs money.

Our budget comes to $7,330 (see the PDF at the end of the post for specifics)
We’ve raised just over $3,400 which is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!
We also have $3,470 of in-kind donations for our hotel room & a minivan to get us to Synod.

We would like to raise another $1,750 to cover unexpected expenses (and price increases), leave a cushion in our account before we have to begin fundraising again, pay for the 2023 website fees.

Because I don’t think I know anyone with a spare $2,000 lying around I did some math (with $2000 which is just a little easier to deal with than the not very round $1,750)…
20 people with $100 each
40 people with $50 each
100 people with $20 each
200 people with $10 each

I know things are hard, with rising prices and stretched budgets, but if you are able to share even a little it would be so incredibly appreciated and we will put it to amazing use to support survivors of rape & sexual violence and advocate for churches and communities to do the work of support and advocacy to change the culture of victim blaming & shaming.

Paypal & Venmo both at breakthesilencesunday@gmail.com
or you can mail checks to
BTSS c/o Moira Finley
PO Box 691
Bonduel, WI 54107

Also, one other need we have which isn’t financial … if we know anyone in the greater Indianapolis area who has a couple of comfy, but firm chairs (not recliners, but kind of really nice library reading club wing chair kind of things), we would love to borrow them for our survivor space. It would be even cooler if they were of a color that would blend with our everything is purple booth, but we will definitely accept anything we can find that we don’t have to take with us. See the picture to the right for an idea of the kind of chair I’m thinking of.

Here’s the full budget as a PDF in case you’re that kind of detail person, or you’re interested in sponsoring a particular line item…