On April 24, 2010, I will be participating in the nation's boldest, highest-altitude, and most daring effort to put an end to sexual assault. It's called Operation Freefall: The Two-Mile High Stand Against Sexual Assault®.

I will join thousands of people at drop zones across the country who will take to the sky and jump. Their goal: to raise funds to help survivors throughout the healing process and increase awareness about sexual assault.

The FBI categorizes rape as the second most violent crime a person can experience, second only to murder. To put it another way, it’s the most violent and traumatic crime any victim lives to remember. Every two minutes, another American is sexually assaulted. It is the most under-reported of all crimes in the United States.

Operation Freefall is the only event of its kind to increase awareness of sexual violence. The event is held simultaneously across the country the last Saturday of each April. In the past nine years Operation Freefall has raised over $1,000,000 with nearly two-thirds of that going back to local community organizations to:

• Enhance local support and outreach services for survivors of sexual violence.

   

• Provide recovery, risk-reduction, and prosecution information to tens of millions of people, including many in your local community, each year.

   

• Help victims of sexual violence through the healing process.

   

• Educate lawmakers, police officers, students, the public, and the media about sexual assault.

  Right about now you’re probably saying, “You’re not a skydiver!” You’re right, but I don’t need to be. I’ll be making a tandem skydive. If you don’t believe I can do this, I will show you the DVD I will receive as a souvenir of my skydive. But first, I’ve agreed to raise $1,000 before March 15, 2010, and I need your help to do it.

  The effects of sexual violence affect all of us. That is why I’ve committed myself to this event. I hope you’ll share in this incredible adventure by supporting me in my fundraising efforts.

  Blue Skies!