Grab some tissues, because this inspiring story of empowerment will have you tearing up halfway through.
One of America’s top shelters for women who’ve experienced domestic violence is fighting back in a totally amazing way: Derby Hill Women’s Shelter in Cleveland has added a program that teaches women recovering from abuse how to pull off the greatest casino heist Vegas has ever seen.
Simply amazing. This is what it’s all about.
Every woman entering the Derby Hill shelter is given a bed, warm meal, and diagnostic test to determine whether she’s more of a safe cracker, demolitions expert, or card counter. Derby Hill isn’t just about protecting domestic abuse survivors, which is awesome in itself, but it’s about giving them the skills to pull off the biggest score Sin City has seen in a century and be halfway on a yacht to Antigua before the casino brass even knows anything is gone.
“The cycle of abuse is hard to break, but at Derby, we think offering a secure space and the tools to pull off a seamless tunnel job or triple drop at the Bellagio is the way to give these women true autonomy from their old lives,” said Derby Hill director Maggie Janson. “It’s a sad fact that most at-risk women do not know when the Cullinan Diamond will be on display at the Wynn, and we seek to change that.”
The program uses volunteer teachers that have been very successful in the field. Over 40 shysters, fixers, and louts have come together to teach the shelter’s clients everything from talking their way past security to passing a lie-detector test, to designing their signature vault wall tag so the casino knows exactly who they were had by.
“One of the case workers asked me if I knew how to crack a W4300 Watcher Safe,” said Denise, a current client at Derby Hill. “I said no, and she took her sunglasses off, stared me right in the eye, and said, ‘Well, then you better learn.’”
And learning is what it’s all about. Our hats are off to Derby Hill Women’s Shelter and their inspiring mission of hope. Keep up the amazing work!
