Join Mayor Woodfin Dec. 6th at The Crisis Center’s holiday breakfast

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All are warmly invited to The Crisis Center’s free annual Holiday Breakfast. It will take place on Thursday, December 6th, at 7 am. Birmingham’s Mayor Randall Woodfin will speak about how personal crisis impacts the entire community. He’ll also ask our local business community to create more pathways for hope and healing through empathy and emotional support.

The Crisis Center’s Holiday Breakfast is free and open to all

Meg McGlamery, The Crisis Center’s Executive Director, says “This is an opportunity to raise awareness about our services in order to help more people in the community. We all know someone who is facing a crisis. We want them to know there is a safe place to turn.”

Here are the details of the breakfast:

Thursday, December 6th, 7 am
Protective Life, 2801 Highway 280 S in Birmingham
The Holiday Breakfast is free and open to the public.
RSVP to Janet Simpson-Templin at jtemplin@crisiscenterbham.org,
Registration Link
Crisis Center Facebook
Crisis Center Instagram

Who attends The Crisis Center’s Holiday Breakfast?

Last year, nearly 250 members of the Greater Birmingham business community attended the Crisis Center’s Holiday Breakfast. Attendees went on to contribute their financial support, creating more opportunities for those in crisis to get help. This year’s holiday breakfast is both an opportunity to say thank you to these generous supporters, and also to reach out to make sure more people in the community know about The Crisis Center’s services.

What is The Crisis Center?

High atop a hill between Forest Park and Avondale sits an unassuming little place. You’d probably never actually notice the building if you didn’t have reason to find it. But, once you walk inside the doors to The Crisis Center, it’s quickly apparent you’ve entered a place whose business is to help to put people back together again.

What does The Crisis Center do?

In 2017, The Crisis Center worked with over 47,000 people who were affected by personal crisis. Through a number of programs, and on a daily basis, they help tens of thousands of people in our community. First, they help people who struggle with suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, sexual violence, mental illness, and addiction. Second, they help the people who love and support them. Third, they get out into the community to help prevent these types of crises in the first place.

Rape Response is part of what The Crisis Center does

Rape Response is one of the many programs at The Crisis Center. The Crisis Center also provides Rape Response services at One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center. At One Place, they partner with the YWCA, Birmingham Police Department and the Jefferson County District Attorney to give coordinated care to survivors of sexual violence. Above, you can see some of the beautiful artwork done by survivors, as part of an exhibit called “The Wounded Heart.” Each heart represents a snapshot of where a different survivor is on their journey toward healing.  

Also, The Crisis Center has spaces for counseling, a room for forensic exams, a room filled with fresh, clean clothes, and a bathroom that staff affectionately call “the magic bathroom.” Because this is a clean and welcoming place where survivors can go to wash away the first traces of what has happened to them, it’s a magical place. Since it’s filled with loving, homey details, from fluffy bath mats to nice, big bottles of personal care products, it helps survivors feel cared for in a simple, yet powerful way.

“The person who comes out of this bathroom is always so different from the person who goes in,” says Rhiannon Reese, The Crisis Center’s Rape Response Coordinator. “They leave so much behind in that room.”

Suicide and crisis prevention is another part of what The Crisis Center does

Above all, the bulk of The Crisis Center’s work is helping people who are feeling suicidal or facing a crisis. The phone room is the frontline for fielding these calls, and volunteers work 24/7, 365 days a year to help those who are in need. If you would like to become a volunteer or to support this work, you can learn more here. If you or someone you know is in need of this type of support, whether this holiday season or throughout the year, you can learn more here.

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In conclusion, whoever you are and whatever crisis you may be facing, The Crisis Center is there for you. On December 6th, The Crisis Center’s Holiday Breakfast is a great opportunity to learn more about the good work they’re doing to make Birmingham a better place for all of us. It’s also a chance to hear Mayor Randall Woodfin talk about ways we can bring more hope, healing, empathy, and emotional support to our home. And who wouldn’t want more of that?

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