why we are here

Where we came from, and what we are, and what we stand for.

I was talking to a journalist, explaining our Net Patrol program and all Cyberangels volunteers have done to help protect people from stalkers and online predators and to locate and report child pornography.

Our teams are responsible for several recent arrests...I thank them from the bottom of my heart...there are children who will be sleeping more safely tonight because of their hard work and devotion.

He then asked if we were aligned with some radically conservative groups which want to censor and regulate cyberspace.

We are not!

It was then that I realized that many people (this journalist is one I respect who is very familiar with cyberspace) mix up what we do and who we are, with what advocates of censorship and Internet gloom and doom groups do and how they want to tell us all what to do...

I hope the pages on this portion of the site will help to dispel those notions.

I sat here at my computer one morning, reading my e-mail. (I get more than 400 e-mail messages I need to respond to each day.) Included in my e-mail was a message from Dr. Nancy Faulkner, a noted psychologist and fellow board member for SOC-UM (Safeguarding Our Children - United Mothers), a non-profit organization devoted to keeping kids safe online and helping abused children and their families.

Nancy had copied me and several others with a heart-wrenching story, about a young girl named Rachel. Rachel is an extraordinary young woman. She's in high school now, but when she was much younger, her father sexually abused her and beat her.

Rachel's mom, who was also seriously abused by Rachel's father, died a few years ago of AIDS.

Before Rachel's mom died, she and Rachel designed a site to share their story and to help and inspire others. At Rachel's site, she shares poems and other things she believes will help other abuse victims.

I read Rachel's poem, "Wonder," and through my tears realized why I do this. I'm a cyberspace lawyer, who left a Wall Street law firm to set up my own smaller law firm and spend more time with my two children, whom I was single-parenting.

But when Debbie Mahoney (SOC-UM's founder, Dr. Nancy Faulkner) and others opened my eyes to children in need, somehow, corporate legal problems didn't make the priority list, and I found myself donating more than 14 hours a day to trying to help children and others online and dedicate myself to help make just one more child feel safer when they close their eyes at night.

That's why I agreed to run this place..and I've found the most devoted, dedicated and talented group of volunteers anywhere, with more joining us daily from all over the world.

Cyberangels wants to be a place where every man, woman and child feels safe and loved...from our volunteers, members and all our Cyberangels staff...thank you for giving us a place to give back.

Thank you for giving us a place to make a difference, from my heart, and those of our Cyberangels,

With love,

Parry
Executive Director Cyberangels