After a Saturday of shopping at the Acadiana Mall, on December 7th, head over to Barnes and Noble to let somebody else wrap all of the gifts you've purchased. The only cost is a donation to a very worthy cause, the Family Violence Intervention Program.
"We provide the batterers intervention program for the 15th Judicial Court and the Lafayette City Court," says program director Ralph Peters.
it's a non-profit that is significantly reducing violence in homes throughout Lafayette.
"Today I have right at 106 clients, and the national recidivism rate for domestic violence is about 60% when there's no intervention for batterers. Nationally when there is intervention for batterers in a program like ours the recidivism rate drops in half it drops to 30%. My recidivism rate is 6%, so i like our numbers," says Peters.
And it's fundraisers like wrapping gifts for donations that keep FVIP up and running.
"Without the program the repeat offense rate will go up significantly and when repeat offenses occur usually results in more severe injuries to victims and our goal is to ensure the safety of victims and their children," says Peters.