We recently connected with Laura Pahules and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Control Alt Delete helps people escape from domestic violence situations by removing the barriers that keep them in unsafe and dangerous environments. We provide one time assistance to help Survivors flee in the most vulnerable time of need, as they are actively escaping.
Today domestic violence impacts 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men according to the national statistics. Someone you know is literally in an abusive relationship right this moment. Escaping from domestic violence is never as simple as “just leaving”. It is dangerous and often poses a high risk for lethality.
There are many, many wonderful agencies that help Survivors after they escape with shelter, supportive and wrap around services. Control Alt Delete helps the Survivors get to their safety – whatever that looks like for them.
Requests for assistance come from victim advocates, prosecutor offices and crisis response teams including police and fire departments. They enlist Control Alt Delete to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and have stated time and again that they are so grateful for Control Alt Delete to help when no other agency is able or willing.
Control Alt Delete has set the standard for diversity and inclusion by NOT asking for or tracking any demographic data points when providing services. We firmly believe that everyone should have the ability to escape from their abuser regardless of race, ethnicity, background, education, religion, or socioeconomic status. This sets Control Alt Delete apart from other agencies that have specific demographics they serve based on their mission or funding.
A very large and heavily funded nonprofit in the Phoenix Metro area consistently requests assistance from Control Alt Delete. Most recently a request came in to help a Survivor and her children escape their abuser. This agency serves the Hispanic population but could not assist with the Survivors needs because she is undocumented. Control Alt Delete was able to assist within minutes of the request and these Survivors are safe now because of that.
Another large and heavily funded nonprofit comes to Control Alt Delete for assistance numerous times a day because they have geographical constraints meaning they can only assist in a specific county.
Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I grew up in a home full of domestic abuse. It was the life I knew so when I married an abuser at a young age I thought that was just the way life was supposed to be. The year I turned 30 I faced some significant challenges and changes in my life. My abuser asked for a divorce, I found out I had cancer and I lost my job – all within a very short timeframe.
It took several years for the divorce to be finalized and for years after the abuse continued . From being followed by private investigators to my home being broken into to abuse of the judicial system the abuse continued on and on.
It was during that time that I knew at some point in my life I would find a way to help people in those dire situations.
In 2005 I met my forever husband Peter who is everything I never knew I wanted. Supportive in every way, because of Peter I was able to start my career in the nonprofit sector. Over the years I worked for nonprofit agencies that helped the food insecure, the unsheltered and children in the foster care system. What I saw was that every single human service agency that I worked at or volunteered with was impacted by domestic violence. Every single one!
In 2019 I took the years of experience and the knowledge that I garnered and decided to found Control Alt Delete, a federally designated 501(c)3 nonprofit that would bridge a gap in services and remove the barriers that keep people in unsafe domestic violence situations.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As I wrote up the business plan for Control Alt Delete I envisioned literally getting in my car and heading out to help Survivors escape from their abuser. It may have been the natural progression of the agency or it may have been pandemic drive or a combination of both but over 98% of Control Alt Delete escapes are handled electronically. This pivot has made it possible to serve the average of 40 escapes a day that we currently facilitate. If the request for assistance comes in with all the needed information that escape is handled in less than 1 minute.
Another pivot happened fairly early on in the agency. Control Alt Delete now requires a referral for services, a referral from a victim advocate, the prosecutor office or crisis response teams such as police and fire. It is sad and unfortunate that there are people in our world that spend their time defrauding nonprofits but that is our reality. There was even another nonprofit agency that has told the clients they serve to lie to get services and gave them the exact words to say. Even with the referral required we still get 10-15 requests in the day following their weekly outreach. The referral process also helps make sure that the need fits our actual mission of one time assistance when the Survivor is actively escaping from domestic violence.
Control Alt Delete is committed to being the best steward of our donations and that means having the requests for assistance validated before helping.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Victim advocates, the prosecutor office and crisis response teams know that they can come to Control Alt Delete 24/7 365 for assistance in the most vulnerable times.
From a donor perspective, Control Alt Delete sends out a thank you letter detailing exactly how their donation was used. For example from a donation that came in yesterday “Early this morning Control Alt Delete got an escape request from a crisis response team. Because of your donation we were able to help a senior citizen escape with a gas gift card so that she could travel to the safety of her granddaughter’s home.”
And another donation that came in yesterday “Your donation is helping with getting locks rekeyed for a mom and her 4 children today. The police advocate reached out to Control Alt Delete in the middle of the night last night after the abuser used his key to walk right into the Survivors home after an order of protection was served. Fortunately one of the children called 911 as soon as they heard the front door open. Unfortunately, the abuser managed to run away before the police got there.”
Control Alt Delete believes in full transparency, and that includes being the best stewards of our funding. Control Alt Delete is also 100% volunteer run so $1 of every dollar donated goes directly towards helping Survivors escape from domestic violence.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dvcontrolaltdelete.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dv.ctrlaltdel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dv.ctrlaltdel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dv-control-alt-delete/
- Twitter: dvctrlaltdel
Image Credits
All are Control Alt Delete images.