A Message from Our Founders
When Melissa was murdered in 1995, we couldn’t begin to imagine the horrors that would follow in our country. In the two decades since The Melissa Institute was founded, our world has transformed dramatically. Today there are 117,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year. Unfortunately, this savage gun violence is becoming far too familiar. The number of mass shootings in the U.S. is a clarion call to action for everyone, which must be followed by a groundswell of protest screaming, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” Reasonable, sensible solutions have been proposed, and each of us must demand action to address this scourge of gun violence in our society. We must never waiver in our commitment to create a safer world for our children and for future generations.
The first five years of a child’s life are fundamentally important, because early experiences have a direct impact on how children develop learning skills as well as social and emotional abilities. Common sense and research indicate early intervention is the key to altering the trajectory of violence in society. It is urgent to us as we look at our world that our four grandchildren inherit a world that is safer than the one their Aunt Melissa experienced when she was 22.
Several years ago, Melissa Institute co-founder Susan L. Keeley, Ph.D., a psychologist, wrote: “In the months following the tragic murder of Melissa Aptman in 1995, I vividly recall sitting around the Aptmans’ kitchen table, talking with her grief-stricken parents and trying to determine the best way to honor their daughter’s memory. We knew we had two choices: to curse the darkness, or to light a candle.”
In the years that have passed, The Melissa Institute continues to be that light. We ask you to join us.
