The information on the back of the video cover is haunting. “Sue Weaver was raped, beaten and murdered in her home by a twice convicted sex offender. A major company sent him to Sue’s home to clean her air ducts. That company did not conduct background checks on its independent contractors. Sue’s life is over. The company paid the family millions. The subcontractor is no longer in business. Sue’s murderer is in prison. Nothing will bring Sue back,” reads the back cover of an informational video called “Do You Know Who’s at Your Door?” The video is distributed by the Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E., which stands for Consumer Awareness of Unsafe Service Employment.
Lucia Bone, the sister of Sue Weaver, is a long time area resident who established this nationwide non-profit organization in memory of her sister. Late last month, the group hosted a dinner at Abuelo’s in Lewisville, where various community members were invited to get acquainted with the Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. and their board of directors. August 27 marks the seventh anniversary of Sue’s death, and the group is looking for volunteers to get involved with them and promote better protection of consumers in their homes. They focus on annual background checks on employees, contractors and subcontractors hired to work in or near clients’ homes. “Our group is one hundred percent volunteers. We have no paid staff,” Bone said. “Our goal is to educate consumers and employers. One of my dreams is to someday have legislation that requires background checks on anyone that comes into your home,” she added.
Some of the points that they try to get before the public are the fact that bonded and insured does not mean a criminal background check has been performed on the workers. “What that actually means is that if a bonded and insured worker steals some of your jewelry, insurance MIGHT pay for it,” Bone said. Something else that Bone said is important is not to be home alone with a service worker, even though that is something many people regularly do. “Your children are not protection,” she said. “Invite another adult to be at your home with you when work is performed.” There are several different ways people can get involved, such as volunteering time, shopping at Tom Thumb and tying your reward card to CAUSE, #11649, inviting a Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. speaker to your next meeting to bring awareness to your friends and colleagues, or collecting books for their next book sale.
One event they will be involved in this month is Visions, The Women’s Expo. They will have a booth there at Dallas Market Hall to promote their cause, and Bone said they will launch 200 butterflies that day to honor her sister’s memory. Bone said there are a couple of reasons that butterflies are associated with the Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. “There is an American Indian legend that if you whisper a secret to a butterfly, they’ll take it to heaven and your wishes will come true,” she told the group at Abuelo’s. Also, the first time that Bone visited her sister’s home after her death, there were three butterflies that just wouldn’t leave as she walked around the property. “To me, those three butterflies represented the three people I had lost at that time that were so important to me- my grandmother, my father, and my sister.” Bone says she would like to prevent any other family from going through the pain that their family went through in losing her sister in such a painful way.
On August 27, the seventh anniversary of Sue’s death, the Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. group will have an evening at The Grotto to celebrate their C.A.U.S.E. certification program. If you would like to know more about this non-profit organization or this event, please visit their website at SueWeaverCAUSE.org or call 1-877-450-5812.