Trelexa Foundation was founded in February of 2007 by Ken Watkins as the result of the brutal murder of his daughter Rachelle in January 2007. Rachelle was killed by her estranged husband as she returned to her apartment early on a Sunday morning. He stabbed her repeatedly as she struggled to defend herself.
Rachelle was trying to make a change in her life and escape the daily abuse of her husband, and it is her motivation to change her life that prompted her father to vow to do whatever he could to see that women in similar situations are able to escape their abusers without the same fate that his daughter suffered.
Rachelle had two children Trey who was 4 at the time and Alexa who was 1. The combination of their names forms the name of the foundation and serves as a tribute and dedication to the challenges that they will face in their life, without a mother or a father.
Trelexa was founded on the principal that “there is no excuse for abuse” and if a woman is in an abusive relationship, and wants to get away from it as Rachelle was trying to do, she should have the assistance to do so.
Trelexa seeks out other “non-profit” organizations that offer long term transitional housing, a safe environment, and other support, to DV victims to help them get there life back on track, abuse free.
Our long term goal is to make long term transitional housing available to more women in more places in this country. On average six women die everyday at the hands of someone who supposedly loves them. We know we will never be able to end domestic violence completely, but if we can save one life by our efforts, then we will have been successful, and we won’t stop at one, but we will take our successes one person at a time.
