OAK BROOK, Ill., June 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Teens Against Drunk Driving's national victim program is a relatively new addition to the charity's fight to make the streets safer for everyone. The program is a huge success, already helping hundreds of families attempt to regain a semblance of normality after someone in their family was the victim of a drunk driving/distracted driving accident.
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On Thanksgiving evening of 2012, Mr. William M. Piecuch, Jr., Founder and President of Teens Against Drunk Driving (T.A.D.D.) received a correspondence from a young lady in Oklahoma, via T.A.D.D.'s website (www.tadd.org). In the email correspondence, young lady told Mr. Piecuch about the night she was in a car together with her sister when a person who was drunk, collided with their car, and her sister was killed in the accident. The person who hit them committed suicide two weeks later. The full story and link is on the T.A.D.D. site.
In another incident a short time later, a lady walked into T.A.D.D.'s office in Illinois and told Mr. Piecuch about her story. Her husband had recently drove home drunk, gone through a red light, and killed a driver going in the cross direction. He received a five-year prison sentence, and she was left with no income, two young children, and the prospects of losing their home. Her story is told in her own words on the T.A.D.D. site, www.tadd.org.
The preceding stories are just two out of dozens of calls Teens Against Drunk Driving received in 2012. Those calls prompted T.A.D.D. executives to investigate the subject of victims of drunk and/or distracted driving.
While researching the subject, Mr. Piecuch and his staff learned a very important fact. The thing that was most illuminating is the reality of what the definition of a victim is. It further became clear how many different people were affected by these preventable tragedies. After discovering the challenges, and formulating a plan, the team went to work on a solution.
The result of weeks of hard work and meetings was a program titled, "The Victim Impact Fund".
The Victim Impact Fund had an end result of helping victims of the criminal acts and get their lives back in a reasonable amount of time. The staff decided to initially use monies from T.A.D.D. general operating fund, to help pay for lost income, medical bills, etc. T.A.D.D.'s staff quickly realized that in many cases, the victim's vehicle was damaged beyond repair. This left victims with a huge issue of finding ways to get to work, get children to daycare etc. Once T.A.D.D.'s staff realized the transportation issue would be consistent, they set out to seek running vehicles from donors to match up with victims. The running vehicle aspect of the program began as a pilot program in the Chicago land area. The staff agreed to offer the program to other soon to be opened offices in N.Y. and L.A., if it was successful in IL. The list of victims needing a vehicle has swollen. T.A.D.D. has many more requests then vehicles.
While the vehicle aspect of T.A.D.D.'s victim program is for the Illinois area only at this point, the victim program is helping financially all across the country. "We get calls from every state in the Union. We have helped hundreds of families in the short time we have had the victim program. It has been a success. However, the need is severely outweighing our resources, we need many more vehicles, and we need much more financial help, and we need it quickly," stated William M. Piecuch, Jr., Founder and President of T.A.D.D.
Contact: Giuseppe Piecuch Email Office: 888-318-8233