Leave Out Violence (LOVE) was created to reduce and help eliminate violence in the lives of youth and their communities by initiating a movement of youth spokespeople who communicate a message of non-violence.

LOVE was started because violence had deeply affected the life of a remarkable woman: Twinkle Rudberg. In 1972, her husband was stabbed to death while trying to help a woman who was being attacked for her purse. To further compound the horror and senselessness of this act, the attacker was a 14 year old boy– who was both homeless and under the influence of drugs. The young boy was a runaway, who recently joined a gang. Clearly this tragedy began long before he took the life of an innocent man.

In response to this tragedy, Twinkle decided something had to be done to help troubled youth like this lost teenager. She wanted to create an organization that would identify and focus on the causes of teen violence – neglect, isolation, lack of mentorship and domestic abuse. Fourteen years ago, she created LOVE, which has since grown exponentially.

Since its inception, LOVE has become quite a success helping over 40,000 teens with programs from coast to coast in Canada. The trend has found its way to the United States, where LOVE had an impressive launch 4 years ago. With the support of the Department of Education, the NYPD and other prominent New Yorkers LOVE is successfully being implemented in several New York City high schools.

ACHIEVEMENTS