Donna Richmond:
Advocacy Always

Donna Richmond knows what it feels like to be a victim. On July 13, 1988 her father Sergeant Thomas Arlen Richmond was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Mesilla. Little did he know, the suspects in the vehicle had just committed an armed robbery. Little did Donna and her family know, Thomas would never come back home.

Since that time, Donna has put so much of her life into advocacy – trying to make life better for the victims who oftentimes don’t know where to go.

“My dad was killed in the line of duty. That’s what motivated me to become an advocate,” Donna says in her office at La Piñon Sexual Assault and Recovery Services of Southern New Mexico, where she serves as the executive director.

When the man who killed Donna’s dad went to prison for a life sentence, she tried to find out where he was housed – making more than 15 phone calls, and eventually finding the information she was looking for three days later. “I really wondered how most people found the information they were looking for. Some victims just want to know where their offenders are, and when they know, they have that peace of mind,” she says.

In order to provide that type of security, Donna helped bring the Victim Information & Notification Everyday (VINE) Service to Doña Ana County. VINE Services is a free and anonymous, computer-based telephone program that provides information and notification of offenders – allowing victims to stay up-to-date on where their offenders are and when court dates will be. Currently, Donna is working to establish the program statewide.

Donna’s volunteer work with VINE is not exclusive. In 1995, she started working on the Southern New Mexico Peace Officers Memorial honoring fallen officers, then went on to become a volunteer victim advocate for the Victims Assistant Unit with the Las Cruces Police Department. In 2002, Donna applied for a job as Victim Advocate Coordinator for the Sherriff’s Department, then moved on to the District Attorney’s Office as a Victim Advocate Coordinator. The work with victim advocacy prepared Donna for her current position at La Piñon, which she took over from Louise Tracey-Hosa, who was instrumental in building up the highly successful sexual assault recovery service.

“I started as the deputy director and just continued to learn from Louise,” Donna says. “I am thankful for Louise building such a strong agency.”

La Piñon provides a comprehensive list of services related to sexual assault and abuse, including crises intervention as part of a 24-hour crisis hotline, outpatient counseling, community education and professional sexual abuse training. The organization also provides Kid Talk, a child warm line for children to call about issues ranging from abuse to a fight with friends. While Donna has made her full-time job advocacy, she doesn’t shy away from volunteering. Along with her work with VINE, she is the Doña Ana County Chapter Leader for New Mexico Survivors of Homicide and was appointed by Governor Bill Richardson to the New Mexico Victims Rights Alliance. She is also working with Jardin de los Niños, Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, Senator Pete Domenici, Families and Youth, Inc., La Casa and the Children, Families and Youth Department on the establishment of a child crises center.

Donna, with daughters Chelsea, 17, and Carlea Duplantis, 14, doesn’t limit victim advocacy to the community – she brings it into the home. Currently she is raising three foster children, and has seen 20 others come through her door.

“You don’t really know what is going to happen when you become a foster parent and bring these kids into your home; you just know you can take care of them and love them,” says Donna, who is an active member at St. Andrews Church – a place where she finds an enormous amount of support.

Donna repays that support by offering it back to the victims in the community. With each person she empowers, she is focusing on advocacy, always – turning the victim into a survivor.

“Victim advocacy is about passing along information while allowing the victim to decide what to do with it,” Donna says. “You want them to find the strength they need, but, above all, you want to be there for them.”