Heart of the Family

"I wanted daddy to stop hurting my mommy," Eric testified.

Mission

Heart of the Family is committed to empowering abused women and children exposed to family violence through seminars, workshops, conferences and retreats.

We all know someone who has been, is, or will be used, abused or misused in their intimate relationships.

Tax deductible donations to Heart of the Family are used to fund the organization's worldwide outreach to raise awareness of the devastating effect family violence has on us all.

Organization

Michael F Craig founded Heart of the Family following the loss of his daughter Nichole from childbirth complications after being beaten by her husband Mustafah Muhammad who then roamed the Indianapolis Colts backfield. He lost his only son Brian ten years earlier during a domestic dispute with his girlfriend and has a granddaughter that was sexually molested beginning at the age of five years.

Nichole and former Indianapolis Colts defensive back Mustafah Muhammad.

Most of us are painfully aware of the rising toll violence is taking on our communities. Our schools are virtual killing fields and our neighborhoods under siege. Few of us however give a passing thought to another disturbing truth: our homes are often times more threatening and dangerous than the ongoing war on terrorism.

In far too many families, women are being physically hurt, sometimes killed, by the men who profess to love them and children exposed to the escalating violence and horrors scarred for life. Destined to repeat the cycle of violence.

Many of the women and teenage girls around us - in our families, neighborhoods, or places of employment -those we encounter everyday, have been or are being used, abused, and misused by their spouses or intimate partners.

Our jails are busting at the seams from the growing number of men and women convicted of domestic violence and child abuse.

Drug dealers have built thriving businesses from sales to women attempting to deaden the pain of family violence and abuse, and the streets are overflowing with women and children turned away from shelters for lack of space or funding when fleeing for their lives from an abusive mate.

There is no difference between a man executing a women in a public stadium while spectators cheer and a woman being murdered or beaten in the privacy of her home while her children watch in horror in a corner .

Stopping domestic abuse requires a community-wide response and it is up to each of us to make abuse unacceptable.

No longer is violence against women and children a "private" matter.

Family violence is everybody's business.

Make it yours!

Among the things you can do to break the cycle of violence includes volunteering your time and giving generously to organizations struggling to stem the rising tide of violence against women and child abuse.

Michael F Craig

Send donations to:

Heart of the Family
300 S St Louis Blvd, Suite 150
South Bend, IN 46617
Voice 574-329-0258
Fax 574-284-1633
michael_craig@heartofthefamily.info
www.heartofthefamily.info