#My100%PreventableStory

In honor of the 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) will launch a nationwide campaign to “Expand the Circle: Reach All Victims” to let all victims of impaired driving and underage drinking incidents know that we are here for them.  Although MADD serves thousands of victims each year, we know that we are only reaching a small percentage of those who have been injured in crashes or who have had a loved one killed, or who have lost someone because of an underage drinking incident, often because they don’t know we have victims’ services.

We need to get the word out that we are here for ALL victims affected by impaired driving and underage drinking!  We are here if a drunk or drugged driving crash took the life of your loved one yesterday or twenty years ago.  We are here if you survived an impaired driving crash, but have been left with physical or mental disabilities.  We are here if the scars of the impaired driving crash you were in are not visible to others, but you will never forget the trauma, the pain, the fear, the anxiety, the anger, and the myriad of other emotions it left you with for life.  We are here if underage drinking caused an injury to you or your loved one or took the life of someone you love.  We understand that underage drinking incidents can encompass a variety of traumas because underage drinking doesn’t just cause car crashes.  It can result in alcohol poisoning, falls, drowning, fire, sexual and/or physical assault, homicide, and even suicide.  We are here for you too!

We know there are plenty of stories out there of people whose lives have been turned upside down for one of the reasons mentioned above.  Many of these stories we know because we have walked the path with you, held your hand, cried with you, and applauded your courage as you’ve fought to live life again.  But there are many we don’t know because they haven’t found MADD yet.  They may still be struggling, feeling alone, and believing that no one really understands their pain.

But YOU can help!  We need YOUR voice to help us call to them!  We want to reach out past our circle to find those who still need to know MADD is here.  If you have been impacted by impaired driving or an underage drinking incident, we want to hear your story.

1. Make a video – it doesn’t have to be professional – but if you have a nice one, that’s ok too!  We just want your story, rather it’s professional, a news interview, or iPhone.
2. Share your video on your Facebook page and add one of these hashtags: #MyDrunkDrivingStory, #MyDruggedDrivingStory, or #MyUnderageDrinkingStory.
3. Also – and this is important – in your post, type @MADDTennessee to bring up the MADD Tennessee Facebook page and then select it so that we are tagged in your post.  That’s how we’ll see your video!

(Note:  if you have any trouble posting your video because it’s too long, you can always save it in Dropbox or a similar file-sharing service and just post a link to it. You can also email it to us at [email protected].)

Our hope is to get as many victims as we can to share their stories so we can help spread this important message! The more people who see these stories, the more people who will realize there is somewhere they can go and someone they can talk to for help!  We’ll try and collect as many of them as we can here too.  If you have any questions about doing your video, you can call our office at 800-544-6233.