On April 26, local resident Michelle M. Baughman 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”.
Baughman will be joining thousands of people at skydive centers across the country who will take to the sky and jump, to raise awareness and money for sexual assault.
She’s not a skydiver, so she will be making a tandem skydive with a United States Parachute Association licensed tandem master.
Each jumper will skydive from at least 10,560 feet – two miles high.
By raising funds for Speaking Out About Rape, Inc. (SOAR) and local anti-sexual violence organizations across the country, Operation Freefall will help:
• extend efforts to provide prevention, recovery and prosecution information to tens of millions of people, including in the area, each year;
• expand SOAR’s programs to empower survivors, and educate lawmakers, police officers, students and the media about sexual assault and
• enhance local services for survivors of sexual violence.
Baughman has agreed to raise $600 before March 10, and she needs the community’s help to do so.
Those interested in making a tax-deductible pledge can mail it to Baughman, or send it directly to SOAR, along with a contribution made payable to “Operation Freefall”.
Baughman’s address is 400 Washington Avenue, Apt. E, Tyrone, PA 16686.
SOAR’s address is 817-A Virginia Drive, Orlando FL 32803. If you send it directly to Florida, it needs to be accompanied with a pledge payment form that has Baughman’s name on it.
According to information provided by Baughman, 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.
For more information on the event, check out www.operationfreefall.com.
