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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - March 17, 2009
Rachel O’Connell Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
March 17, 2009

Evanston, Illinois Resident Wins Cash Award To Expand Group Therapy Program For Female Victims Of Sexual Abuse


(New York, NY, March 17, 2009) – Evanston, Illinois resident Rachel O’Connell, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Rachel was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the fifth recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award in Illinois since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by an expanded panel of judges that includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Rachel will use her award to expand Porchlight Counseling Service’s group therapy program for female victims of sexual violence.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in four women will be the victim of sexual violence in her lifetime. This staggering statistic is what motivated a group of community members who were concerned about the increase in sexual assaults on college campuses to develop Porchlight Counseling Services in 2004. They partnered with a local psychologist and conducted a feasibility study to find out what college-age sexual assault survivors needed the most. The findings showed that women needed a private place off-campus where they could seek help, as most victims wanted to remain anonymous. Porchlight took immediate action and made the focus of their organization off-campus counseling for rape victims. They offer individual counseling, and have been conducting group therapy sessions for the past year on a trial basis.

A rape survivor herself, Rachel says that the support of group therapy sessions has contributed strongly to her recovery. She feels that group therapy, in addition to her individual sessions with a counselor, played a key role in regaining her strength and putting her on the road to a healthy recovery. Since she began therapy nearly five years ago, Rachel has gone on to support other survivors through volunteering, public speaking, and advocacy. Upon moving to the Chicago area, she discovered Porchlight and now serves on the board of directors.

Porchlight has found that individual and group therapy go hand in hand. Survivors of sexual violence have voiced the benefits of sharing their experiences with fellow survivors. One group member has said, “Group therapy is empowering. It has truly helped me move on with my life.” Although Porchlight is able to offer individual therapy sessions, limited funding has made it challenging to continue offering group therapy. That is where the Hello Tomorrow Fund can help.

With help from the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, Porchlight will not only be able to continue to provide group therapy on a weekly basis, but it will also allow the program to include group sessions for an additional 10-12 women. Rachel will use the funds to support the salary of a specialized therapist and the venue rental fees for two, three-month cycles of group therapy. Each group of five to six women meets weekly for 90 minutes. Rachel is pleased that she will now be able to meet the increased demand for the group therapy program, because it gives Porchlight the ability to connect sexual assault survivors to a supportive community. Rachel herself knows how group therapy helps survivors of sexual violence find support in other women who have suffered similar traumas. “It gives them the opportunity to rebuild their lives,” she says.

Rachel’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “To rise up after being beaten down is what allows everyone to say “Hello to their tomorrow,” commented Suze Orman on Rachel’s proposal.

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