Why QUA4U exists

QUA4U began with a girl who spent much of her life learning what it feels like when the people and systems that are supposed to protect someone simply do not.

She grew up an only child. Her parents divorced when she was three, and her mom worked tirelessly — often two or three jobs — to support the two of them in a city far from her own hometown and support system.

Her childhood was unsettled. Her dad continued trying to sabotage her mom for leaving him, adding hardship to a life that was already difficult. Because of the nature of her mom’s work, they moved repeatedly. She attended several different schools, never developed the kind of close childhood friendships many people take for granted, and barely knew the children living around her.

She did not know how to ask for help. She did not know how to explain what she was feeling. For a long time, she did not even understand that there were things inside her that needed attention. She only understood much later how deeply those years had shaped the way she related to other people.

That followed her into adulthood. She struggled to maintain friendships and repeatedly found that people were willing to take advantage of her kindness or her difficulty standing up for herself. In a relationship that eventually became a marriage, neglect became another form of loneliness. When friends, relatives, and even strangers put her down, nobody seemed willing to stand beside her and say that it was not acceptable.

Her mom remained the person at the center of her life. After a seventeen-year battle with cancer, her mom passed away. The loss left her without the one person she had always been able to call family.

Later, separated and facing life with almost no family and very few people she felt she could truly turn to, she became increasingly determined not to abandon the little girl inside her, the animals she dearly loves or other people who know what it feels like to be unheard while authority looks the other way.

That is why she created QUA4U: Quell Unjust Authority 4 U. It is meant to be a place where a record can remain visible, where evidence can accumulate instead of disappearing, where people can question authority, and where those seeking justice do not have to feel that they are asking alone.