Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2173

Tonight's special guest is Allen Vandever [and his wife, Dawn?] from Chicago, Illinois. Allen is a contemporary artist who's turning the tragic stories of his youth into his life's passion. "I wake up every morning and open up a coffee shop where unexpected people walk in to get a free cup of coffee,” Allen explains. "We talk to them about the epidemic of child sexual abuse. We give them flyers with information." Many sign up for their newsletter. Childhood Fractured is a non-profit humanities-based human rights initiative centered on preventing the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, through contemporary art. Allen explains, "Our initiative operates on a multitude of levels to best foster civic engagement. We bring up our mission in an upbeat way. We are proud we are survivors and even more proud of what we are doing. Instead of the dark clouds that normally come into the room when this subject is brought up, the sun shines on all of us and we are able to talk about one of the worst things in the world and have a smile on our face and flaming passion in our souls." He goes on, "When there are no customers, we have a whole team making art, writing books, reaching out to sponsors, writing grants, and working on social media, prevention, awareness, and educational programs. Our big goal is getting survivors to become activist warriors for children's rights. As children, we had no voice. As adults and as survivors, we have a voice, and united we can change things and we will fight for children's rights to not be molested, to not be abused, to not have their innocence stripped away from them."