MADD - Archives

While on spring break during his senior year of college, Steven Benvenisti was walking with friends one evening when he was struck by a habitual drunk driver driving 50 miles per hour. His legs were crushed upon impact, his head smashed through the windshield of the car that struck him, and his body was thrown 70 feet.

Steven sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and remained in a coma for 10 days. His parents were called and asked permission for organ donation. Upon awakening from the coma, he did not recognize his parents, could not speak, and had extensive cognitive deficits, including no short term memory, along with severe reading comprehension issues. He spent six months in the hospital, enduring 15 surgeries and intense rehabilitation.

When Steven learned of his grim prognosis and realized what had been taken away from him because of a drunk driver, he promised that if he had a full recovery, he would spend the rest of his life doing everything he could to end drunk driving.

After the crash, Steven turned to MADD and found victim advocates in Florida and New Jersey who helped him and his family deal with the challenges from the crash. Amazingly, he fully recovered, went on to law school, and now is a partner at the law firm of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, where he represents victims of drunk driving and their families in lawsuits against the drunk drivers and those who served them. He has served on the New Jersey Advisory Board for MADD for several years and has recently been named as one of the five new members of MADD’s National Board of Directors.

Steven is also an award winning motivational speaker who shares his personal story entitled “Spring Break.” All of Steven’s speaking fees are waived in favor of a donation to MADD.

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MADD—Serving Victims Every Eight Minutes!
By MADD | June 28, 2012 | Filed in: Victim Services

First there’s the crash, then the lifelong impact.

Thankfully, MADD is just a phone call away to provide support for drunk and drugged driving victims. In 2011, MADD provided victim services to over 63,000 victims and survivors nationwide! That means serving one victim and survivor every eight minutes at no charge.

These services include grief support, help navigating the criminal justice systems and community referrals. Services are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year through the 1-877-MADD-HELP (1-877-623-3435) Victim Services Support Line. A helpline specialist takes care of the immediate needs of callers and then refers to a local community MADD advocate for ongoing support. The helpline is sometimes a lifeline for victims and survivors at their most vulnerable moments.

If you or someone you know is a drunk or drugged driving victim, please don’t hesitate to call if you need a compassionate ear. MADD helps survivors survive.

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Boise Walk Like MADD®
By MADD | June 27, 2012 | Filed in: General

This past Saturday was the first ever Walk Like MADD event in Boise, Idaho. More than 120 registered walkers, runners and dogs showed up to walk in support of MADD’s mission. The Boise Walk Like MADD event had a fundraising goal of $5,000, which they have already surpassed by raising more than $6,300 dollars—an impressive amount for an event put on by a group of volunteers.

More than a dozen of the Walk Like MADD events put on each year across the country are run entirely by volunteers who want to make an impact in the fight against drunk driving in their community. In Boise, it started with a group of three MADD volunteers who heard about the opportunity to organize a Walk Like MADD event. As word began to spread, the group began to grow and eventually eight people made up the first ever Boise Walk Like MADD committee—two drunk driving victims/survivors, another MADD volunteer, and five members of the Boise community who all wanted to make a difference for the victims and survivors and their families, as well as help make their community safe from drunk driving.

Thank you to the Boise Walk Like MADD volunteer committee, and the dozens of other MADD volunteers around the country for helping raise awareness and funds for MADD to help put an end to drunk driving through Walk Like MADD events.

Whatever your reason, if you are interested in putting on a Walk Like MADD event in your community, or just learning more about it, contact wlmsupport@madd.org.

*All photos provided by Marit Welker.

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Betty Stadler, Founder of MADD Idaho
By Jan Withers | June 26, 2012 | Filed in: General , National President

Elegant, courageous, regal, strong, gracious, powerful, kind and clearly a force to be reckoned with. These words are what come to mind when I think of the founding mother of MADD Idaho, Betty Stadler. I had the privilege to meet and spend time with Betty last week—how inspiring she is. Betty is now 90 years young.

In 1987 her daughter, Carol, was killed by a drunk driver and Carol’s husband was critically injured. Not many months after that, Betty began a MADD Chapter and they have been going strong ever since. Her daughter, Sue, told me her mother immediately engaged the governor, the mayor and the prosecutor, as they moved forward to address drunk driving as a serious crime instead of a mistake or accident.

We were accompanied at dinner by (from left to right) Sue Stadler (Betty’s daughter), Pam Gill, James Bryant, Therese Woozley, and Miren Aburusa.

At MADD Idaho’s very first Walk Like MADD event, Betty was honored by over one hundred individuals who came out to walk—what a celebration. The day prior to the Walk, MADD volunteers and staff spent a full day working on strategies to reach more people victimized by drunk and drugged driving. MADD Idaho volunteers and staff are amazing; they do so much with little resources. They follow Betty’s example beautifully. MADD Idaho is a force to be reckoned with! What a legacy their work is to her.

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MADD Announces New Board Members
By MADD | June 21, 2012 | Filed in: General

We are thrilled to announce five new members to our National Board of Directors! This diverse group of new members brings a range of experience, including grassroots activism, underage drinking prevention, financial expertise and much more.

	Steven Benvenisti, New Jersey. During Steven's senior year of college, he was walking while on spring break when he was struck by a habitual drunk driver. His legs were crushed and he was in a coma for 10 days. He spent six months in the hospital, enduring 15 surgeries and intense rehabilitation. After that crash, he turned to MADD and found victim advocates in Florida and New Jersey who helped him and his family deal with the challenges from the crash. He fully recovered, went on to law school, and now is a partner at the law firm of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, where he represents victims of drunk driving and their families in lawsuits against the drunk drivers and those who served them. He has served on the New Jersey Advisory Board for MADD for several years, and shares his story to audiences around the country.
	Brad Bulla, Tennessee. At the age of 17, Brad’s son, Jed, was a champion fiddle player and had been playing since he was six years old. In August 2005, Jed was practicing to compete at the Grand Master Fiddle Contest, but his life was cut short when he took a ride with an underage drunk driver. The pickup got up above 100 MPH before the driver lost control. Jed was thrown from the truck to the side of the road, where he died. Brad starting working with MADD shortly after the crash. He has been a frequent speaker on victim impact panels, including at the national 2009 Lifesavers Conference, and a force for stronger drunk driving laws in his home state of Tennessee.
	Frank Magourilos, New Mexico. Frank is a Senior Prevention Specialist for the Santa Fe County DWI Program. In this role, he has worked closely with MADD New Mexico, the New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau, and the New Mexico Prevention Network. He has tirelessly supported and implemented MADD’s Power of Parents™ underage drinking prevention program throughout the state of New Mexico and is a large part of the success the Power of Parents program has had in the state. He is also one of just a handful of individuals in the country with a Master’s Degree in Prevention Science from the University of Oklahoma. Additionally, Frank is a National Trainer and Consultant with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
	Mahesh Shetty, Texas. Mahesh is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Encore Enterprises, Inc., a Dallas-based real estate investment company. He has more than 25 years of experience as a senior finance executive and started his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Dallas Business Journal named him their 2011 CFO of the Year for companies with $50-99 million in revenue. He is also a vice chair of the Committee on Finance and IT at Financial Executives International, the leading U.S. association for CFOs and other senior finance executives
	Monica Vandehei, Connecticut. In high school, Monica not only excelled in her studies, but also completed more than 350 hours of community service — most of which was with MADD Connecticut. She has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor the organization has to give, and in addition to MADD and Girl Scouts, has volunteered with the United States Coast Guard Academy’s Ensign Edibles Program and the Shoreline Soup Kitchen. She credits her values, her peer group and her parents with helping her refrain from underage drinking. Monica just finished her first year at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., studying Music Business.