{"id":8746,"date":"2017-10-13T21:23:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T21:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/?p=8746"},"modified":"2022-06-28T08:48:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T08:48:46","slug":"turning-pain-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/turning-pain-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Pain Into Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Rosalind Donald, MADD Kentucky Victim Services Specialist<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>This<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0story is about a mother who has paid her daughter\u2019s cell phone bills since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>What situation caused this parent to pay for her adult daughter\u2019s cell phone bill for the past 5 years?<\/p>\n<h2>The reason is heart-breaking<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8750\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8750\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8750 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ashley_BlogPost-ContentImage-Template.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"200\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 240px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 240\/200;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8750 \" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ashley_BlogPost-ContentImage-Template.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"200\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8750\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ashley Martinez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her daughter, Ashley Martinez was killed in a drunk driving crash April 29, 2012. A drunk driver hit the 23 \u2013year-old college student, who was studying to be an elementary school teacher,\u00a0 head on.<\/p>\n<p>Theresa Martinez, Ashley\u2019s mother, pays the phone bill to have the comfort of hearing her daughter\u2019s voice, the only thing she has left of her oldest daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Theresa\u2019s story certainly speaks volumes of her compassion and love for her beloved daughter. MADD is blessed, because soon after her daughter\u2019s death, Theresa decided to serve as a MADD volunteer. She truly chose to turn the daunting pain of losing her daughter to the purpose of helping victims like herself with the sole purpose of ending drunk and drugged driving.<\/p>\n<h2>Recognizing courage<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8753 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Theresa-and-Cop-119x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"Theresa Martinez and Officer\" width=\"119\" height=\"300\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 119px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 119\/300;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8753 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Theresa-and-Cop-119x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"Theresa Martinez and Officer\" width=\"119\" height=\"300\" \/><\/noscript><br \/>\nI am so pleased to announce that her services to the community are being recognized soon. Along with retired NBA star Darrell Griffith and national hero Stephanie Decker, a courageous mom who lost her legs saving her children in the 2011 Henryville Tornado, our very own Theresa will receive the prestigious Bell Award in a televised red carpet award ceremony October 20.<\/p>\n<p>It is the passion of courageous volunteers like Theresa, because of whom our mission succeeds, and, for that, I am ever grateful. It was my honor and privilege to nominate her for this wonderful award!<\/p>\n<h2>MADD Kentucky and the Bell Awards<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the pageantry and celebrity of the Kentucky Derby, our WLKY Bell Awards makes our state shine.\u00a0 The awards show is nicknamed the \u201cLouisville\u2019s Oscars\u201d because participants show up in fancy gowns to walk down a red carpet and, at the end of the night, honorees receive prestigious awards.<\/p>\n<p>It was shocking to me as a lifelong Louisvillian, who grew up watching the Bell Awards on TV, that MADD KY had never nominated a volunteer for the award. I set out to correct this by nominating one of the many exceptional MADD KY volunteers. When thinking of a volunteer who lives and volunteers in the greater Louisville, KY\/Indiana area (known as Kentuckiana) and who dedicates countless unpaid hours to achieve MADD\u2019s Mission to stop impaired driving and support the victims of the crime, Theresa Martinez was the first volunteer to come to mind.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-8758 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/theresa-with-lots-300x169-1.jpg\" alt=\"MADD volunteer\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/>In addition to volunteering for MADD, Theresa volunteers at the Attorney General\u2019s office and on the board for Compassionate Friends. Today, Theresa also speaks publicly for KY highway safety events, as well as for Jefferson County court programs. She also works with various police departments and high schools throughout Kentucky. Theresa has also been active in on-going legislative efforts and has been monumental in advocating for victim\u2019s rights in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.\u00a0 Recently, Theresa expanded her role at MADD by training to volunteer as a victim advocate on our 24-hour victim national hotline. Theresa began working with the Bardstown, KY WALK and accelerated her activity around the state.<\/p>\n<p>We are extremely proud of Theresa\u2019s award and the good work she does for our state.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/volunteer\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8820 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/volunteer-with-theresa-768x96-1.png\" alt=\"Volunteer With MADD\" width=\"696\" height=\"87\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 696px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 696\/87;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8820\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/volunteer-with-theresa-768x96-1.png\" alt=\"Volunteer With MADD\" width=\"696\" height=\"87\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rosalind Donald, MADD Kentucky Victim Services Specialist This\u00a0story is about a mother who has paid her daughter\u2019s cell phone bills since 2012. What situation caused this parent to pay&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/turning-pain-purpose\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Turning Pain Into Purpose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,176],"tags":[204,194],"class_list":["post-8746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drugged-driving","category-cat-drunk-driving","tag-award","tag-mother","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Turning Pain Into Purpose - MADD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why pay for a cell phone no one answers? One mother has the answer. 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