B.E.L.A. Charities, Inc., founded in 1994 by the family Barbara Ellen Lynch, a young mother of three small children who was murdered by her husband. The organization has a16-year history of involvement and leadership on the issue of prevention of domestic abuse. B.E.L.A. Charities has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for domestic violence shelters in the Chicago Metropolitan area; has funded the “Fresh Start” Initiative of the Crisis Center for South Suburbia which provides presentations and workshops for thousands of teenagers in metropolitan Chicago-area high schools on the prevention of teen dating violence; has funded 3-year Teen Dating Violence Prevention program at one Chicago Public High School which uses a state of the art research-based curriculum for teenagers; has funded the creation of Summer Day Camp opportunities for children living in a domestic violence shelter; and holds annual golf outings and other fundraisers to support other domestic violence prevention initiatives.
