The Relentless School Nurse: PACEs Connection is a Wonderful Organization to Support on this #GivingTuesday2022

I am not sure where I would be today without the information, community, support, and collaborations I have experienced with the team at PACEs Connection (formerly ACEs Connection). Right now this amazing organization is in need of support. I wrote a blog post about what PACEs Connection has meant to me over the years. I am honored that they used my comments to create a #GivingTuesday2022 plea for support. There are many worthy causes to support, but this is one that I hold in the highest esteem because of the impact ACEs science has on long-term health outcomes, including the impact of violence

Thank you for being a member of PACEs Connection, and for helping your community— our global community—prevent childhood adversity and heal trauma. This is a worldwide movement, and we are gaining ground!

Yet even as we near 58,000 members and add new communities almost weekly, we find ourselves in dire financial straits.

When she heard the news that PACEs Connection had lost funding, Robin Cogan—school nurse, nursing professor, and trauma survivor—chose to make a monthly donation to support our work. She hopes you will join her, and shared many reasons for her enthusiasm in a recent interview.

“I found PACEs Connection following the death of my father,” Robin says. “Generational trauma was my original reason for digging deeper into the science of ACEs.”

Three generations of her family have been traumatized by mass shootings!

“It is my goal to do everything in my capacity as a school nurse and family-member survivor to share this work. PACEs science holds the key. By reducing and eliminating childhood adversity, especially exposure to violence, we can change the world,” Robin adds.

Robin is right. PACEs Connection:

Is a trusted source of information and connection for more than 57,586 members;
Helps support more than 440 geographic communities across sectors—including schools, communities of faith, law enforcement, health care—learn and work for trauma-informed policies and practices;
Helps support 40 special-interest communities—including those working in foster care, education, pediatrics, communities of faith—to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to defeat racism and poverty;
Raises awareness of the science of adverse and positive childhood experiences (PACEs) to help parents, policymakers, and pediatricians connect the dots between trauma and poor health outcomes.

Yet this Giving Tuesday finds us in deep financial need as a major funder reneged on promised support, leading us to reduce hours and staff. And so we must ask you to further your involvement. Specifically, please join Robin in her support of PACEs Connection.

“Our gifts back…will bring more light.”

“Answering this call for support is the least that we can provide for all that has been given by PACEs Connection as a hub for learning, growing, and amplifying the need to prevent and heal trauma,” Robin says. “Our gifts back will be used to bring more light into this world in great need of healing.”

Please join Robin in making your generous, tax-deductible gift to PACEs Connection by clicking here. Thank you in advance for your support to prevent childhood adversity, heal trauma, and build resilience for children and families in your community.

P.S. If you’d rather mail your gift, make a wire transfer, or need other help to connect us with a gift, please click here or contact Carey Sipp, director of strategic partnerships, at csipp@pacesconnection.com, director of strategic partnerships.