The Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) board announced Aug. 26 that six new members will join its board of directors.
Cynthia Garner, Virginia Benson Wigle, Jackie Hall, Diana Lambeth, J’Aimee Oxton and Dawn Sproul bring with them skills and knowledge that will contribute significantly to promoting community awareness and helping DVS provide shelter and safety to the thousands of Santa Barbara County victims of domestic violence.
Founded in 1977, DVS for Santa Barbara County works to end the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence by providing prevention and intervention services and by challenging society’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to effect social change
“As the only full service domestic violence organization serving Santa Barbara County, we are committed to providing safe and confidential shelter, emotional support, personal advocacy and empowerment to battered women, men, teens and children” said Julie Capritto, board president. “We also play a leadership role in educating the community and supporting the work of other women’s rights and social change organizations.”
“Our role is to provide the first (highly emotional) emergency step in an integrated community system that aims to restructure the lives of women, teens and children who are in desperate situations because of violence,” Capritto said.
Cynthia Garner graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s in secondary education and a double major in history and psychology. She earned her master’s in curriculum leadership.
Garner is involved with the Junior League, Girl Scouts, Parent Teacher Organizations, the Children’s Museum and Mercy hospital.
In 2010, Garner started her own non-profit called 5 to Live By, which raises money for women and children in need.
She has lived in California for 25 years with her husband Ted and her four grown children: Brittany, Liza, Katherine and Daniel.
Virginia Benson Wigle has played integral roles in the local non-profit sector for over 25 years.
She worked for the Rape Crisis Center and volunteered at the Shelter Services for Women, the Santa Barbara and Ventura Public Health HIV/AIDS Taskforce, Central Coast Coalition for Responsible Parenting and the Teen Task Force.
Wigle served on the board of the Carpinteria Lou Grant Parent/Child Workshop and the Carpinteria Education Foundation.
She graduated UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in history and art history and resides in Santa Barbara.
Jackie Hall is originally from Silicon Valley, and graduated from UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in law and society and a minor in global peace and security. She earned her Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, from Santa Clara University School of Law.
She served as the pro bono coordinator at the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County.
In addition to serving on the Domestic Violence Solutions board, Hall served on the board and is currently co-chair of the New Member Committee for the Junior League of Santa Barbara, and she served as past board member of the Santa Barbara Barristers.
Hall lives in Santa Barbara with her husband Jeff, daughter Abigail, and they expect the addition of a son to their family this fall.
J’Aimee Oxton is a Santa Barbara native and Bishop Diego Alumni. She attended UC San Diego and earned her bachelor’s in sociology with a minor in law and society.
Her law practice helps individuals with legal matters related to criminal defense, family law, juvenile delinquency, juvenile dependency, divorce/legal separation/nullity of marriage adoptions, child custody, visitation, child support, domestic violence, parental child abduction and pre and post-marital agreements.
Oxton volunteered at Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center and CASA. In addition to being a member of the board for Domestic Violence Solutions, J’Aimèe is also a member of the League of Women Voters, the Santa Barbara County Bar Association and the Santa Barbara Barristers.
She is a devoted single-mother to her daughter, Ashlyn.
Dawn Sproul earned her bachelor’s in communications from UCSB and has a background in both the private and public sectors.
She received recognition as the Pacific Coast Business Times’s “Top 40 under 40” and “Top 50 Women in Business.”
Sproul has volunteered with the United Way of Santa Barbara County, Unity Shoppe, American Heart Association, and she is a current board member for the Goleta Chamber of Commerce and served on the board of the Cox Cares Foundation.
She currently serves as the Domestic Violence Solutions co-chair for the High “Esteem” Luncheon.
In addition to her career in executive management and sales development, Sproul is the proud mother of two daughters, Kaylie and Riley.
Diana Lambeth is a psychotherapist in private practice; she works with couples as well as individuals and families and is part of the adjunct faculty at Antioch University in Santa Barbara.
Lambeth has been involved with Domestic Violence Solutions working as the clinical director for three years.
She has spent her career working with families and children who have experienced some sort of trauma from teens in out-of-home placement to adolescent sex offenders to women and children at risk due to stressful, challenging life circumstances.
Lambeth lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, Lyndon, three children, Lauren, Geoffrey and Bailey and one grandchild, Zoe.
For more information or to make a donation, please contact Charles Anderson or visit www.dvssolutions.org.
— Charles Anderson is the executive director of Domestic Violence Solutions.