History of R.I.S.E.

Today I wanted to take a moment to answer several questions I've been receiving in regards to the history of R.I.S.E.

While I could go through and answer every single one, I think this one is better left to the founder. I sent her a quick email, and she has asked me to publish this article in response. Enjoy...

"I started RISE in 2008, after moving back to a small town in Kentucky, where I had lived when I was 13-14 years old. When I had lived there before, I had made an instant friend of a girl named Heather, who I eventually found out was being raped by her father every time he came home. She had many physical and psychological problems due to this, including suicidal tendencies. After I moved away, Heather and I eventually lost touch, but the memory of her haunted me, and when I moved back there in 2008 at the age of 23, I was reminded of how angry and hurt I was for her and her situation. I had also found out that certain members of my family had been raped, and other friends of mine as well, and I realized that rape and incest happen a lot more than people think. So, I began thinking of ways to help somehow. What I came up with was a Myspace profile [myspace.com/avoiceforheather], and an acronym: RISE [Rape Incest & Suicide Education]. That was a start. I was friends with a woman named Sandra, who was the founder and president of a non-profit organization called Dreamcatchers For Abused Children, and she helped me gather information and set up the page. I adopted the alias Ragdoll Mender, and began my work.

It wasn't long after I started RISE that I was doing research on the RAINN website, and I came across an article about how to tell if you've been raped. My mind immediately shot back to about a year earlier, when a friend of mine had forced me to have sex with him. I had been in a state of denial. All the signs in the article pointed to yes, and I finally realized that not only was I helping those who had been raped, but I too had been raped. RISE would end up helping not only others, but me as well.

RISE quickly grew on Myspace, faster than I had anticipated. I had many emailing me with their stories, and some even asking for my advice on legal matters involving incest. I tried to help them to the best of my ability, but I had no college degree in counseling, and didn't want to step on any toes, so the Tripod website was born [avoiceforheather.tripod.com]. It was just a site where I could post everything that was on the Myspace, but where I could also post a disclaimer, among many other things. However, when I moved in with my husband, in a place of isolation, I had to stop updating the Tripod website, but it is still there none the less. It was the same with the Myspace, which won't load on dial-up internet. Currently, the RISE headquarters is located in Southeastern Kentucky. Not much high-speed here.

It was becoming harder and harder to maintain any kind of connection with the victims that I had grown so close to. Then, just as I was about to give up on RISE, a woman named Rindi started a Facebook group for it. Since Facebook loaded just fine on dial-up, I was able to interact again. My husband Eric [Vice President of RISE] and I made a music video promoting RISE, and friends and family joined in [youtube.com/ragdollmender]. Eric also provides a male input, and is an advocate for spreading awareness about sexual abuse towards males. Later, I created an official RISE Facebook page as well [facebook.com/avoiceforheather], and Rindi created a blog and a Twitter account [twitter.com/voiceforheather]. RISE has come a long way, and although there have been some speed bumps along the way, hopefully the best is yet to come...

Kylie Jude [Alias: Ragdoll Mender]
Founder/President
RISE"

Thank you Kylie, for sharing such a sad story, and for having the courage to want to stand up and do something about it, especially for those victims that can't speak about the pain they are enduring. <3

Check out more about R.I.S.E. at any of the following:

Website: avoiceforheather.tripod.com
Myspace: myspace.com/avoiceforheather
Blog: avoiceforheather.blogspot.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/avoiceforheather
Twitter: www.twitter.com/VoiceforHeather
Email: VoiceforHeather@yahoo.com