[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5558]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN

  (Mr. MAFFEI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MAFFEI. Mr. Speaker, Vera House, which is based in Syracuse in my 
central New York district has been working to end domestic violence in 
the area for 35 years. Each year, we come together during the White 
Ribbon Campaign to show our support for Vera House's important work.
  Vera House provides critical resources for victims of sexual violence 
in central New York. It ensures that all victims and families receive 
the care, counseling, and advocacy they need and deserve. It offers 
shelter services, counseling for children and adult survivors of rape 
and sexual abuse, and it offers violence preservation education.
  Vera House and many organizations like it across the country need our 
continued support. An estimated 1.3 million people are victims of 
domestic violence every year--men and women who are straight, gay, 
transgender, as well as so many children. Nearly 7.8 million women have 
been raped by an intimate partner at some point in their lives.
  Mr. Speaker, each year, Vera House serves about 1,050 survivors of 
sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes. Vera House's 
counseling program helps over 700 impacted by domestic or sexual 
violence. The White Ribbon Campaign asks people to wear a white ribbon 
as a symbol of awareness and solidarity with all those affected by 
domestic violence.

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