OUR STORY
Remembering the brilliant life and tragic death of Jessie Blodgett
Before she was killed in the summer of 2013, 19-year-old Jessie Blodgett’s life plan was taking shape.
As a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jessie was offered a Talent Scholarship for her excellence in the music education program. Meanwhile, she started her own business teaching piano, voice, and violin to young people in Hartford, Wisconsin, garnering 26 students in just two months. Jessie had a long-term vision: To become a high school or university choir director, touch 100 young lives a year, for 40 years, using music to impact people and change the world. She was serious about that last part.
Born in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta to parents Buck and Joy Blodgett, Jessie thought that everyone loved her and the world was hers to explore. So she loved everyone back. But her eyes opened early in her teen years, and she saw the darkness in the world as well. At a young age, she became outraged by bullying and unfairness. She developed a strong social conscience and personal philosophy, stood proudly and doggedly for her causes, and became a fierce defender of animal rights, environmentalism, sustainability, social justice, and ultimately (and ironically) ending violence against women.
WHEN TRAGEDY STRUCK
Jessie’s story was just beginning when tragedy struck on July 15th, 2013. According to the official police report, a City of Hartford Police Officer was dispatched to Jessie’s family home and “observed a young, non-responsive female, subsequently identified as Jessie Marietta Blodgett, on the floor of a bedroom on the second floor of the residence … Shortly after officers arrived she was pronounced dead and the scene was secured as a crime scene.”
Jessie’s devastated friends and family eventually learned the truth about her death from the criminal investigation that followed. On that morning, as Jessie lay asleep in her bed, an old high school friend snuck into her room, sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death.
A PROJECT IS BORN
The story made national headlines as cameras captured Buck and his wife Joy’s journey through their personal nightmare. When reporters interviewed Buck, he did not speak with anger, hate, or revenge; instead he spoke about resilience, forgiveness, and love.
One month after Jessie’s murder, 500 people showed up to a candlelight vigil in a Hartford park. Across banners and wristbands and signs was a simple slogan: “LOVE>hate.” It became clear to Buck that something good needed to come of this tragedy and that he needed to make it happen. And so, the LOVE>hate Project was born.
OUR MISSION
ENDing Interpersonal Violence. Promoting Forgiveness. Presencing Love.
OUR VISION
Zero tolerance for interpersonal violence by the end of the century.
OUR VALUES
Love: We embrace love as the driving force in all our actions. We promote compassion, unity and understanding through shared experiences.
Empathy: We create space where all people are seen, heard, valued and loved.
Empowerment: We encourage all individuals to have strength and confidence in their voice.
Accountability: We take personal ownership of our thoughts, words, action, and mission.
Respect: We treat all individuals with dignity and honor the inherent worth of all people.
Forgiveness: We choose to live with open hearts, releasing the past, and believing the best in ourselves and each other.
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OUR PARTNERS
Thank you for your commitment to non-violence and LOVE
