Donna Bartos

The commitment to fight for a cause sometimes comes out of a long struggle. Other times it's born in an instant. In Donna Bartos’ case, the path to her calling was a little bit of both.

It was August 2006 and the Phoenix-area homemaker was at a seminar about a philanthropy program called Cut It Out, a domestic violence education program for salon professionals. That night memories came flooding back to Bartos – and they weren’t very pleasant.

“I realized I was one of the ‘silent victims,’” she recalls.

Throughout her high school and early college years, Bartos had a terrible secret that she hid, as she puts it, “under a facade of excellent grades and a packed social calendar.”

It was her boyfriend. Though very popular on campus, he had serious anger issues. During their time together, Bartos was slapped and punched and generally degraded by him. And like many victims of this kind of abuse, she believed all the while that she could change him.

Eventually, in the fall of 1993, he smashed Bartos head against the concrete floor. That’s when she finally saw clearly how dangerous the relationship was and that she needed to get out.

“The shame was so strong that the only person I told was my college roommate,” she says. “The embarrassment and fear of what people would think kept me silent.”

More than a decade later, Bartos saw clearly how her personal experience gave her an unavoidable obligation. With domestic abuse killing four women a day in the United States alone, becoming active in the fight against this kind of abuse was perhaps the only way to make sense of what she had gone through.

Not long afterward, Bartos decided to create Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse and a companion agency, Purple Ribbon Council.

A simple, turn-key grassroots awareness and fundraising effort to empower others to break their silence, Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse events are by-ticket-only affairs that bring together advocates, volunteers and communities of concerned citizens across the country to simultaneously raise awareness and funds for this silent epidemic.

The events are hosted by Girls Night spas and salons, with food and beverages sponsored by local restaurants and businesses, information on local shelter and prevention resources, education on how to recognize and respond to the signs of domestic abuse, door prizes and silent auctions.

The Purple Ribbon Council channels fundraising from Girls Night Out events to important programs designed to elevate public awareness of domestic abuse. One of the council’s chief programs is to build a cause-marketing brand for the purple ribbon – similar to the powerful symbol the pink ribbon has become for breast cancer – to inspire everyday people in communities across the U.S. to become a part of the solution to cut out domestic abuse.

Purple Ribbon Council programs and Girls Night Out are 100% volunteer-led. Supporters help to launch GNO fundraising and awareness events in local communities, assist with marketing, and lend professional skills in Web design, public relations, and legal.

Not surprising for this “full-time mom,” time is just as scarce a resource in her fight against domestic abuse as money. That means evenings are usually dedicated to work – a schedule she says that makes recruiting skilled and committed volunteers challenging.

Bartos says she’s already received dozens of qualified referrals from her VolunteerMatch account.

“I am so grateful to my friend for introducing me to VolunteerMatch,” she says. “I can now recruit volunteers in cities across the U.S. to help launch GNO to Cut Out Domestic Abuse awareness events in their communities.”

At VolunteerMatch, we’re honored to support Donna Bartos and more than 59,000 organizations united in dedication to the causes and concerns that so desperately need to be addressed in today’s society. What about your cause? Update your listings today and get into the fight.