By Heather Collins

Coburn Place will host its annual Blue Breakfast from 7 – 9 a.m. on March 1 at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center.

The theme of this year’s Blue Breakfast is Drive to Thrive. The event will be emceed by Rafael Sanchez from RTV6 and will also feature special guest Marlin Jackson, a former Indianapolis Colts defensive line back. A Coburn Place graduate, Violet, will also speak.

The Blue Breakfast is an annual fundraiser for Coburn Place, an advocacy group that provides transitional housing units to victims of intimate partner violence. The mission of Coburn Place is empowering victims of intimate partner violence to live as survivors.

Coburn Place offers numerous services for adults and children including a 24-hour crisis line, individual advocacy and case management after-school care, and GED tutoring and education advancement. Coburn Place is the largest transitional housing unit in Indiana with a total of 35 apartment homes within their gated and secure facility, originally an IPS school.

Whiskey and Honey salon owner, William Turpin-Doty is a volunteer committee member. Four years ago, Turpin-Doty was asked to visit Coburn Place to provided beauty and hairstyling services to the women who reside there. Now, Turpin-Doty serves on multiple committees for Coburn Place, and also provides salon services to the woman on a monthly basis.

“We have a really amazing Coburn Place graduate who has already done the bravest thing she can do which is leave her abuser,” Turpin-Doty said. “Now she is going to do the second bravest thing she’s ever done as she talks to 300 people about domestic violence and leaving her abuser.”

Tickets are available online for $65 per seat, or $750 per table of 8 at coburnplace.org. The Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center is located at 7001 West 56th Street in Indianapolis.

For more, visit coburnplace.org or join the Blue Breakfast: The Drive to Thrive event group on Facebook.