Crime Junkie - SEASON OF JUSTICE!!!

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

Audiochuck’s founder and CEO, Ashley Flowers, has founded a new non-profit called Season of Justice. Season of Justice (SOJ) is dedicated to providing funding to law enforcement agencies and families to help solve cold cases. SOJ provides grants to law enforcement for advanced DNA analysis solutions, such as forensic genealogy and next-generation sequencing. The organization also awards grants to families to support awareness campaigns, search teams and other initiatives that can assist in pushing their cold cases forward. SOJ’s goal is to provide financial resources for both law enforcement and families in order to bring closure to those impacted by unsolved violent crimes.Though Season of Justice is completely separate from audiochuck, it’s because of Crime Junkie listeners that we have been able to fund the organization so far. Every time you’ve ordered merch, signed up for the fan club or just listened to one of our ads on Crime Junkie we have donated to SOJ.Because of you we have already been able to award $145,000 in grants to assist with 25 cold cases. And that’s JUST the beginning. We expect to award another $75,000 to $100,000 through the rest of this year and hopefully much more in the years to come.At audiochuck, we believe we have a responsibility to do more than just tell these stories. We believe you as listeners have a responsibility to do more than just listen. We really wanted to be able to move the needle in the true crime space and create responsible true crime content and we are doing that together. Because of you and because of this show, we will all be directly responsible for making a difference. For making sure justice is served. For doing right by the people whose stories we tell.Whether you’ve been here since day one or you just found our show – THANK YOU. Thank you for being a part of this journey. And thank you for helping us making a lasting responsible impact in the true crime space.Audiochuck will always continue to use the funds brought in by our fans to support Season of Justice and other non-profits and cases that are important to us and our listeners, but if you want to donate directly you can visit the website Seasonofjustice.org. Season of Justice is a 501(c)(3) and all donations are tax-deductible. Law enforcement, victims and families can also submit grant applications on the website for funding.One day we hope to wake up and say there are no more cold cases… That won’t be tomorrow, but there is a future where that’s possible. And thank you for making that happen.

Hi, crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers, and I'm dropping in your feed unexpectedly with probably the biggest announcement I've ever made. Literally, I feel like everything me and Britt and the entire audio Chuck team has done and been working towards over the last three and a half years has been to get to right here, right now. And it is literally all because of you. When you listen to one of our ads, or when you signed up for the fan club, or when you bought a piece of our merch, you were making a huge difference for victims and their families, and you didn't even know it. I founded a new nonprofit called Season of Justice. Season of Justice is dedicated to providing funding to law enforcement agencies

and families to help solve cold cases. We do this by providing grants for advanced DNA testing, so like the genealogy stuff that you've been hearing so much about over the last couple of years, or even pulling small amounts of DNA off of items using a system called NVAC to get a usable profile when years before that wasn't possible. We also provide grants to victims of violent crimes, or their families to help aid in bringing closure to their cases. Sometimes that's through awareness campaigns or hiring a private investigator, things like that. Now, Season of Justice is completely separate from Audio Check. It's run by an executive director who retired from law enforcement with over 30 years of service, and I just act as an unpaid board member. In fact,

all of our amazing board members, which consist of people with combined backgrounds in law, public affairs, crime, victim advocacy, and journalism, all of them volunteer their time for free. But it is because of you guys that we have been able to fund the organization so far. Every time you've ordered merch, we've sent money directly to Season of Justice. When you pay your monthly fan club membership, money goes to SOJ. And if you've listened to our ads on CrimeJunkie, we have donated to SOJ. Because of you, we have already been able to award $145,000 in grants to assist with 25 cold cases. And that is just the beginning. We expect to award another $75,000 to $100,000 through the rest of this year, and hopefully much more in

the years to come. And I can't thank you enough. When I started this show, it wasn't just to tell stories. I mean, I've said this all along. These are real people, real stories. And every single week, we are talking about the worst time in families' lives. We have a responsibility to do more than just tell stories. I believe you, as a listener, have a responsibility to do more than just listen. I really want to be able to move the needle in the true crime space and create responsible true crime content. And I believe that we're doing that together. Because of you, because of this show, we will all be directly responsible for making a difference, for making sure justice is served, for doing the right thing by the people whose stories we tell.

So whether you've been here since day one, or you just found our show, thank you. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. And thank you for helping us make a lasting, responsible impact in the true crime space. Audio Chuck will always continue to use the funds brought in by our fans to support Season of Justice and other nonprofits and causes that are important to us and our listeners. But if you want to donate directly, you can visit the website seasonofjustice.org. Season of Justice is a 501c3, and all donations are tax deductible. And if you're out there and you're in law enforcement and you have a cold case with DNA available, but there's been no match in CODIS, visit our website and apply for a grant to fund advanced testing. Families,

too, if there is a way that you can further your loved one's case, but funding is an issue, there's an application for you. One day, I would love to wake up and say there are no more cold cases. And I know that that won't be tomorrow, but there is a future where that's possible. And thank you for making that happen. I am truly from the bottom of my heart, so proud of each and every one of you. Thank you.