The Gabe Kapler Foundation - 2005 Charity Poker Tournament

Lisa and Gabe Kapler have a reason to be committed to helping women and their children, who are victims of abuse, fight back. Lisa was only 14 years old when she was physically and emotionally abused by her high
school boyfriend. She will never forget the despair and excruciating pain she suffered at his hands for three long years. She and Gabe often talked about wanting to do all they could to prevent other women from suffering as she did, but how? After Lisa’s first visit to an undisclosed battered women’s shelter in Southern California in July of 2004, the path Lisa and Gabe would take became clear. To read about this life changing visit, please click here.

The Gabe Kapler Foundation is a family run, non-profit foundation dedicated to stopping domestic violence. Our goal is to empower victims of abuse to stop the violence perpetuated against them by giving them the tools to live self-sufficient, violence-free lives. We also focus on preventing the children living in abusive environments from becoming lifelong victims or from becoming future abusers.

We work with organizations that operate 30-day emergency and 9-month transitional shelters to give victims of domestic violence the education and support they need to free themselves from their abusers. Our support includes, but is not limited to, providing:

Creative, inviting, indoor and outdoor child-centered play spaces

Experienced educators and social workers who specialize in domestic violence and child development to facilitate support groups

Speech and language development workshops

Monthly dental/medical exams

Child Care by educators who act as role models for effective problem solving

Workshops that focus on effective parenting and ways to positively interact with and discipline children

Encouragement for mothers to be advocates for their children in the public school system

Funding workshops to teach the basic skills women need to make a home for themselves and their children, including interviewing for jobs, balancing a bank account, and household budgeting

Working with men’s groups that have similar goals, to bring speakers to middle and high schools to address the issues of teen abuse and domestic violence

While housed in a shelter, each mother must know that her child is nurtured and cared for. This will increase the likelihood that she will remain at the shelter until she can begin a new life—a life free from abuse.

During that crucial time, each child must be encouraged to solve problems without using violence and learn to form healthy relationships with other children and adults. These are skills they must learn so that they can prevent repeating the cycle of abuse and becoming the next generation of victims or abusers.

Funding is provided by money personally donated each year by Gabe and Lisa, and through donations made to The Gabe Kapler Foundation. Lisa and Gabe have made a long-term, personal commitment to fund the foundation, but they realize that their contribution alone is simply not enough. In order for The Gabe Kapler Foundation to reach its full potential and to impact as many lives as possible, they need your help!