Eat at Applebee’s today in Rockwall and help end abuse

If you eat at Applebee’s restaurant in Rockwall anytime today from 10:30 am-11pm, the restaurant will donate 15 percent of your purchases to the Rockwall-based Lillian Smith Family Violence Foundation, which campaigns in media, schools and communities to help end domestic, dating, child and pet abuse.

Once at Applebee’s, all you have to do, according to Foundation founder and Rockwall resident J.J. Smith, is to tell your waiter or waitress that you are there to help the Lillian Smith Foundation and want your purchases to count as part of Applebee’s donation.

Local Foundation Board and Advisory Council members include State Sen. Bob Deuell, Rockwall County Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper, Walmart Store Manager Jamie Dennis, Dallas Morning News Neighbors Go Editor Dawn Redig and Rockwall County Bar Association President and legal columnist John Browning.

According to its Facebook page, the non-profit is Texas’ largest network of survivors and concerned citizens campaigning to save lives, dramatically reduce injuries, ensure quality care and empower people to bring an end to family violence — the leading cause of injury to women and children in America.”

The Foundation recently received local publicity for holding their first Lillian Smith Race To End Abuse 5K/Walk in Rockwall which they now plan to expand nationwide. About 200 people attended the local event.

The Foundation’s efforts to help abuse victims received state and nationwide publicity just last month when Smith and board member State Sen. Bob Deuell helped a Dallas mother and her two young daughters who said their father forced them to watch hard core porn on a computer. 

After Crystal Buckner’s eight and nine year-old daughters told their counselor and CPS what happened in Amarillo, Randall County District Attorney James Farren tried to prosecute the father but discovered what he did was actually legal, according to an obscure 1973 Texas law.

Sen. Deuell has announced that he will introduce legislation in the 2011 session to overturn that law, making it illegal for parents to display porn to their children, just as it is currently illegal for any adult to show porn to any children in Texas.

For more info, call J.J. Smith, 214-256-4071.