Melrose Alliance Against Violence (MAAV)
UPDATE! The Bridge to Redemption and Fresh Starts?
September 24, 2025: MAAV has a new Executive Director. With hope that a fresh set of eyes might understand how my previous interactions with MAAV caused harm, I reached out and had a very productive conversation. After reviewing the evidence, MAAV has returned the donation made by the Lucas Law Group and removed them from their sponsorship materials. This sends a powerful and clear message that MAAV stands with victims and survivors, not perpetrators and their enablers. MAAV (under new, better, and more courageous leadership) is choosing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk and that matters, A LOT. With a new Executive Director and the old Board President gone, this change in leadership already feels like a step in the right direction for MAAV, victims/survivors, and the Melrose community as a whole.
To be crystal clear . . . a person who attacks survivors, calls them crazy, spreads lies to protect his buddies, and tries to silence them through intimidation has no place pretending to support an anti-violence organization. Donating money doesn’t make you an ally. If you actively harm survivors, you are part of the problem and no donation to protect your image will shield you.
Thankfully, the new leadership at MAAV understood and acted quickly. Removing them as a sponsor was absolutely the right call, and it gives me hope that MAAV will be a strong ally moving forward as a partner and peer in the work both they and I do in the realm of survivor support, advocacy, education/prevention, and activism.
It’s worth noting that on the same day MAAV cut ties with the Lucas Law Group/Dave Lucas, media outlets reported that seven charities have cut ties with Sarah Ferguson as a patron or ambassador after her private correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein was leaked that included a 2011 email in which she, among other alarming statements, called him a “supreme friend.” Her removal parallels what MAAV did with Dave Lucas and the Lucas Law Group.
I am still choosing to leave up my original interaction/email with the former Executive Director of MAAV because, like the timeline, it's important to hold accountable both people and institutions including their history. In this case, I am hopeful this will act as proof that it's never too late to make a change and do the right thing!
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So many people have asked why I didn't reach out to MAAV: Melrose Alliance Against Violence. The truth is I did; multiple times. Around the end of October/beginning of November, 2023 I reached out to then-Executive Director of MAAV Crystal Johnson. I was encouraged by their visibility in the Melrose Community and their White Ribbon Day pledge, which includes:
"I will speak out against attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual assault and domestic violence."
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"I will find out how to help when I suspect that someone I know is a victim or offender of sexual assault or domestic violence."
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You can imagine my shock, frustration, and supreme disappointment when she told me that they really only focus on the 'domestic violence' part of their pledge and that they would not get involved because my "offender" was a Melrose politician and it could be viewed as a "political stance." They gave my abuser a PASS because of his political profile. Interestingly enough, that didn't seem to stop members of their board...and specifically then-board president Joe Guarino...who are in various Facebook Groups, liking posts from people who think I should keep silent. I guess taking a political stance is ok for the people who run the organization, but not the organization itself, regardless of what they pledge they will do.
I reached out a couple more times to Crystal but received no response. It was only then I decided to send a final email, below. If this is what we can expect from local advocacy groups who claim to help, it's no wonder victims are hesitant to seek them out.
Remember folks...
